Earn Our Wings
by Whispatchet
Summary: Although they appeared to be suited to a life on wheels, their sparks yearned for the open sky; the rush of the wind and the feeling of leaving everything behind.
1. No More do we Sear the Sky

The red and white mech entered the Security Hub and gently placed the pads he was carrying onto his desk, before slumping into his chair. He opened the top drawer in search of a data pen, and his optics landed on an old photograph at the bottom of the drawer.

One red, one yellow, one white. Grinning like no one's business, and hovering high above the ground.

…...

_"Alright y' two aftheads, if y' could sit still for a moment I'll introduce y' to yer wingmate."  
A tall, gruff looking seeker stood in the doorway to a common area, two younger seekers inside, lounging.  
"We already told you Corkscrew, we don't need a slotting wingmate." One of them said nonchalantly.  
"Y' damn well do, punk. Y' know full well we fly in threes!" The older seeker stepped into the room and grabbed the red seeker by a wingtip, making him yelp. "Now if I hear y've chased this n' off, like t' other THREE I've tried assignin' to y', I'm gunna make y' life feel like the Pit, d'y'hear?"_

_"Leggo o' my wing!" The red seekerlet shrieked.  
"Let him go!" His yellow counterpart shouted._

_Corkscrew huffed and released the wing of the quivering youth, and turned towards the door. "Well, don't just stand there like an idiot, get in 'ere." He said, motioning to a fourth figure._

_Another young seeker stepped into the room. His armour was white, with red and black accents on his arms, legs and wings. His optics were blue, and, even for a seeker he was slight of stature.  
And not looking all that confident._

_"Alright you two punks better look after the kid." Corkscrew growled.  
"What, we're sparkling sitters now?" The yellow seekerlet exclaimed.  
The white seeker twitched. "I'm not a sparkling... just because I'm small..." He said, making a valiant attempt at defending himself.  
"Sure you're no-AIIE!" The retort was made short abruptly by a boot to the yellow youngling's aft._

_"Knock it off!" Corkscrew growled, looming over the seekerlets. "Now, get y' afts to the runway. Y' three are gunna be flyin' together and y're gunna be doin' it NOW."  
"But-"  
"NOW!"_

_The two twin seekerlets scrambled out of the room, grabbing their new 'wingmate' on the way and bolting for the upper levels._

_"So..." The red seekerlet said once they were out of Corkscrew's audio range."You're the newest loser to be forked our way."  
The white seekerlet glared at him. "Not exactly my first choice either, but it was either you two neophytes or be rostered with Skywarp. I think I'll take my chances with the Infamous Twins."  
The yellow one snorted in response. "You'll have better luck with that idiot than with us." He growled, not knowing what a 'neophyte' was, but sure it was some sort of insult.  
The white one let his optics flicker skyward for a moment before resettling his gaze ahead of him. _

_"So, you got a name, runt?" The yellow seekerlet asked, as the three of them appeared on the runway, a few other newly slapped together fledgling trines also there for a test flight.  
The white seekerlet crossed his arms over his cockpit, staying silent.  
The red one scoffed. "Prolly hasn't earned a proper name yet!" He jeered. "Still on your sparkling designation, whitey?"  
"...Shut up."_

_The twins chuckled. "Oh dear, he DOES still have his sparkling designation! Such a young, frail thing!"  
"I said SHUT UP!"_

_"Sidestream! Sunburst! Rocket! Get your afts over here and into the sky!" One of the instructors barked at them.  
"Rocket?" The twins echoed, grinning at their new 'trinemate', who was turning red under the scrutiny. "THAT'S your name?"  
"Aww, look at him blush!"  
"Gone redder than his painted panels!"  
The twins roared with laughter, which made the white seekerlet go even redder."S-shut up..."_

_The red seekerlet draped his arms over the white one's shoulders. "Aww, come on Red, it's just a bit of fun."  
The white seekerlet glared at the pair he was now forced to spend his days with._

_"TWINS! AIR! NOW!" The instructor roared, and the two sighed, and took off, pulling some odd sort of two mech flying pattern that they had invented._

_The white seeker sighed and watched the two fly. What HAD he gotten himself into by agreeing to fly with them?_

_"Rocket!" The instructor strode over. "What's put lead in your thrusters?"  
"O-oh, nothing, Sir... just... had my first dose of Twin Torture."  
"Ooh, you're stuck with the twins as wingmates?"  
"Yessir."  
The instructor smiled at him. "If you can handle the twins for more than a week then you'll have them for the rest of your life, I wager. They'll probably ease up on you the longer you stick with them." He snorted. "Now, get your aft in the air and pull yourself into formation with the braggarts. I plan on seeing those two at the Temple and doing so before I offline from old age would be great."  
"Yes sir!"_

_The white youth gunned his thrusters and transformed while airborne, shooting after the red and yellow forms flying high above him._

_"Well well, Red Rocket's come to say hi!" The Red flier jeered as he approached.  
"That's not my name, and you know it!"  
"Oooh, tetchy, aren't we?" The yellow added. "Come on, Red Rocket, fly with us! See if you can keep up!"_

_The two tore off into some bizarre rolling pattern, leaving the white flier at the end of a long cloud trail.  
"OOOooh, those little..." He snapped after them, thrusters roaring. After how downright rotten they'd made him feel he wasn't about to prove them right by copping out!_

_Over the course of the four hours that the young seekers had the sky, the twins pulled the new member through just about every flying pattern they had ever come up with. They were determined to stay as a pair, not follow along with the whole Trine slag that the older Seekers couldn't seem to let go of. They never needed anyone but themselves, anyway._

_For the longest time, the smaller flier was having trouble just keeping up with the other two, and it wasn't because he was slower. Their patterns seemed so painfully erratic that his processor was falling behind. _

_Perhaps he was beginning to notice an actual pattern to their movements, or, perhaps they were starting to let him follow along, but, as their time in the air drew to a close, it seemed that the white seekerlet was part of those patterns, rather than just trying to keep up with the other two._

_A shrill whistle from below and seemingly all around signalled for the youngsters to all return to the ground. The white seekerlet transformed within a few feet of it and touched down, flopping to his hands and knees, exhausted. Fragging twins..._

_The tired calm of the runway was suddenly shattered by a very loud, terrified yelp. The twins had flopped themselves down onto one of the white seekerlet's wings each, and no one was surprised that it hadn't sat well with the youngling._

_The twins, however, thought it was hilarious._

_"He even sounds like an alert siren, with that sound he makes!"  
"He does! Red Rocket... more of a Red Alert, to me!"  
"G-get off me."  
"But your wings are so comfy, Red Alert!"  
The white youngling growled, face flushing at the nickname. He figured it was going to stick unless he disproved it right away... which he wasn't doing a great job of right now. "Get OFF!"  
The twins pouted, but slid off. They may have been jerks, but even they knew better than to bug a seeker's wings for too long._

_The white mech stood, and walked angrily towards the stairs, hands curled into fists. The twins regarded him for a moment, before plodding after him._

…

As he stared at the photo, he could nearly feel the hum of thrusters at his feet and the rush of air by his wings. He sighed deeply. What a wonder those times had been. And... How lucky it had been that he had stuck with those idiots for as long as he did.

…

_The white seeker let out a shriek of pain as a cannon blast tore through his right wing, and he started to fall. He slammed his blue optics shut as he prepared to become well acquainted with the ground._

_"Come on, Red, get it together."  
He opened his optics and blinked. A red seeker had swooped in and caught him from plummeting the very many miles to the ground, while a yellow was ducking and weaving through fire from the security cannon below, finally getting close enough to destroy it with a blade attached to his arm.  
"Sidestream..."  
"What's gotten into you, Red? You're twitchier than usual." Sidestream descended, and set the smaller form on his feet, before having a look at the damage to his wing.  
"The combat training isn't exactly helping my nerves."_

_A whistle sounded from the complex they were attacking. The session was over. And the moment it was, the yellow member of their team soared over.  
"What the Pit was that, Red?" He barked, making the wounded seeker flinch. "Primus... hover frozen like that in real combat and you'll be blasted to scrap!"  
"Sunburst, I'm aware."  
"Then why'd y' go and get shot?"  
The white seeker just looked at him. Sunburst had a habit of using anger to cover up what he was really feeling. And there were only two mechs in the entire School that knew how much he worried… for both his brother, and the smaller flier they had let get close.  
"We're never going to get out of this blasted hole." The yellow twin grumbled._

_As one, the trio looked up at the complex which was still awaiting their return. It was where seekers were sparked, trained, trialled and when they were ready, bound into a Trine. But, unless you were in a Trine, they weren't about to let you leave. And they had very special ways of keeping you there._

_"One more subject. That's all we need, Red, ONE!"  
"I'm well aware of our scorecard, Sunny."  
The yellow seeker glared at the white. "Don't call me that."_

_The group let out a collective sigh, and picked themselves up, beginning the flight back to familiar ground.  
The white seeker looked at the complex as they approached it from his perch on Sidestream's back, frowning the entire way. But, it was not in frustration. _

_"...I think I've got it."_

_The twins looked at him. "Huh?"  
"I think I've worked out the security plan they're using for this scenario... I..."  
There was a contemplative pause.  
"Can you break it, Red?"  
"If you two are willing to follow a plan, instead of all that crazy improvising you do normally."  
"Feh."  
"Look, do you want to get out of here or not?"_

_"..."_

_"Just listen to me this once. Once. Then we'll be out of here and we'll never have to see each other again. Which I'm sure you two will be ecstatic about."_

_"We'll all have that Trine stuff though, won't we? Will we be able to split up?" Sidestream asked._  
_"Of course we will."_

_"Well, I suppose you better start on that security breaker as soon as we get back, Red Alert." Sunburst said, his huff with a sense of finality to it._

_"Primus, I wish you would drop that stupid nickname."_

…

The mech sighed, and raised his right hand to look at the palm. Thanks to Shockwave, the delicate and unique mechanics beneath the armour was no longer there. None of it was. The brilliance that was an air faring form had been stamped on. He clenched his fist. Slagger.

Two familiar presences pressed against his mind, having felt the change in their mate's mood. He revelled in their presences for a short moment, before sending a reassuring nudge back to them.

He wasn't fine. But none of them had been since that day.

…

_The three seekers stood in awe of the room they were in. The ceilings were so high that the top was shrouded with shadow. The walls were so far apart that you couldn't see one end from the other. Pillars lined the way from the elevator door and the altar, and everything was covered in hieroglyphs._

_"Well now. Are my optics malfunctioning? Sunburst, Sidestream, whatever are you doing down here? Have you come to bother us again?" Asked a voice._

_The three young seekers took a moment to find the owner of the voice, their blue optics finally landing on the Elder seeker, standing near a plinth a short distance away.  
Sunburst snorted and put his hands on his hips. "Not this time, old man. We're here on business."  
"We found someone worth tolerating!" Sidestream added with a large grin, clapping a hand on the white seeker's shoulder, who blushed rather vividly.  
The elder in the centre of the room quirked an optic ridge at the three. "You're 'Rocket' correct?"  
The white seeker blushed again, for a different reason. "That's my sparkling designation, sir." He forced out, trying to ignore the snickers of the twins.  
The elder stared, but then blinked. "Ah, of course. Your creators never forwarded an adult name."  
"Yay." It was clear the white seeker didn't think much of his creators, indicated by the bored offside glare that he gave the air beside him._

_"Give me your score card, boys."_

_The three younglings plodded over, the smaller of the three handing a data pad to the old seeker. He cast his grey-blue optics over it, nodding at each 'pass' against the subjects.  
"What a surprise this is. I had almost begun to believe we would never come to this day."  
"Oh well thanks, old man. Good to see you have faith in us."  
The elder shook his head. "Your behaviour thus far has been defiant and delinquent, and you resisted having a trinemate to the very last possible moment."  
"It's a dumb tradition; I don't see why you are so insistent." Sidestream muttered.  
The elder smiled. If only they knew.  
"Well, in light of your recent success…. I believe I can offer you your graduation."  
The look on the three young seekers' faces was nothing short of thrilled.  
"However we can't very well have you three put into a Trine with young Rocket here still on a sparkling designation."_

_The twins suddenly broke into uproar.  
"WHAT! So we're NEVER going to get out of here?"  
"His creators are never going to send him a real name if they haven't by now!"  
The elder put his hands up to calm to two. "Not at all what I meant, boys." He soothed. "If you'd let me speak instead of jumping to conclusions and running your mouths..."  
The two shrank back into infuriated sulks._

_"I was about to suggest that I name him,_ then_ Forge your trine."_

_"You'd do that?" The white seeker exclaimed.  
"Of course." The elder smiled. "You're not the first to never be given an adult name."  
He blinked. "I'm not?"  
"Of course, naming those in this situation is always problematic. I don't know you, so choosing a name that is appropriate may take some time..."_

_Never ones to wait, the twins spoke up. "Call him Red Alert!" _

_The white seeker balked.  
"He already answers to it, anyway!" The twins grinned at him.  
"I hate you both."_

_The elder was contemplative. "It is a decent name." He said, looking at the score card in his hands again."And you did seem to have some skill in security systems, as well if your grades are anything to go by." He smirked. "I know for a fact that some of these marks are due to your skills, and not that of the twins. It suits you nicely."  
The seeker's shoulders slumped. "You can't be serious."_

_"Come on, Red! It's a good name!"  
"Suits you so well!"  
"I hate you both. Really, I do."_

_"Well then it is decided!" The elder took a pen and wrote on the white seeker's file. "Red Alert."  
A red hand came to meet an equally red, albeit for different reasons, face._

_"Now, are you three ready?" The elder asked. "Once Forged into a trine, you'll be true seekers. Are you ready for that kind of responsibility?"  
"Just lay it on us already!" Sunburst exclaimed.  
"We're ready for whatever, just let us out of this place!"  
The elder's optic ridge rose again. "Very well. Sunburst, stand here. Sidestream, here. Red Alert..." The white seeker groaned, but was ignored. "Here. Power down your optics and drop your firewalls."_

_Although confused and apprehensive, the three complied. There was a strange, empty moment, where the three standing in a triangle simply stood, listening to the silence.  
The newly dubbed Red Alert was the first to notice. _

_It was not silence._

_There was a hum. Two hums. One from each of the twins. A hum and a thump, thump, thump. Power core and spark? Why could he not hear the elder's? Why could he hear the twins'?  
The thought fell away from his mind, however, as the sounds that were the twins, the _presence_ of the twins, seemed to consume everything._

_The twins never noticed a change in each other, having always felt one another's presence, thoughts and moods, ever since they were sparked. So, the sensation was nothing new.  
Sunburst was about to question the point of this standing around, when another presence suddenly seemed to come into focus beside his brother.  
The same went for Sidestream._

_From a world where there was only the two of them... emerged a third... another mind, gently pressing against theirs. It was strange, yet... familiar at the same time. As if they already knew this presence. This person. _

_'Red?' They asked._

_'...Sunny? Sides?' Was the answer, sounding frightened and unsure, but somehow soothed by their being there._

_The three opened their optics at once, and looked at each other, a strange understanding on their faces, as if they suddenly all spoke the same language._

_The elder smiled. "It is done."_

_And then all hell broke loose..._

…..

The mech growled to himself. That no good slagging Decepticon... how dare he... how dare he... and he let those other aftheads live... live how they were supposed to... on wings...

….

_The white seeker tried to pull himself along the ground to where his trinemates lay on the ground. They had been caught by surprise._

_All around them there was debris, bodies, bits of their own wings. The pain that tore through them wasn't just their own, but of all three of them, their trine bond linking their very cores to one another._

_He reached his mates and gently shook them. 'Sunny? Sides?' He pushed his mind against theirs. He wanted them to move... open their optics... anything. He couldn't bring himself to speak... if his vocaliser was even still working._

_'Red...' Twin presences rolled against him, as two pairs of optics flickered on.  
He let out a half sigh, and smiled. They were still alive. _

_A tall figure loomed over them, and the three looked up. _

_With dark purple armour, one eye, and a gun for his left hand, the behemoth had the elder's grey body in his right hand. And now he was looking down at them._

_"You three." He said, voice not quite monotonic but pretty close. "This area has been claimed by the Decepticons. Join us and serve Lord Megatron, or be destroyed."  
Waves of fear radiated off the three at his feet, but, also, a sense of defiance, too.  
"You will not comply?"  
"...Frag you."_

_"Very well." Tossing the elder's corpse aside, he descended on the trine. Using the weapon of his left hand, he attacked. With painful and brutal strikes of his right hand and shots from his weapon. The made the younglings suffer, before tossing them into a heap to one side. By the time he had finished, there was hardly anything left of them... you couldn't even tell that the three quivering masses on the floor were once seekers._

_The figure turned on his heel and strode away._

_They lay there for vorns. Slowly losing their energon and their hope that they would ever be found. All they had left of themselves was the thrum of one another. Even as they slipped into Stasis Lock, one by one, they held onto those all consuming hums, and beats, that made up their trine._

_When they awoke, the first thing they did was search for those beats again. That presence. They had to know they were near one another._

_And they were._

_Opening their optics found them in an orange tinted room, each of them lying on a separate berth. A few mechs were in the room, one of them working on something within Red Alert's chassis.  
The twins sat up, and looked themselves over._

_Seekers they were no longer._

_"Oh! You're awake!" One of them exclaimed. "How you feeling?"  
Twin stares turned to face the medic. "Who are you?" They asked together.  
The medic blinked at their identical tones, but shook his head. "My name is Ratchet. I just fixed the both of you."_

_'They don't know who or what we are.'  
'They've turned us into Ground-Pounders!'  
'They've ruined us...'_

_'They saved us!'_

_The twins blinked and looked over at their trinemate, who was awake, despite the medic working on his innards, and looking at them._

_'Red, go back to sleep.'  
'No... Sides... Sunny... these medics saved us... even if they did turn us into groundlings.'  
'How does that mean we've been saved? We've been wrecked!'_

_'That Decepticon thinks we're dead. So he won't come after us.'_

_The twins looked at each other. Red Alert was right. If they had these medics rebuild them as they should be, then the Decepticon that had destroyed everything wouldn't come after them to finish the job._

_Ratchet looked at the twin creatures before him. "So you two got names, or what?" He asked.  
"Sun...streaker..."  
"Sides..wipe..."  
Ratchet blinked at them, before looking at the smaller of the three. "And him?"_

_"Red Alert." They said together._

….

He shook his head sharply. "Get it together, Red Alert." He muttered, grabbing his pen and slamming the drawer shut. "Those days are done."


	2. Harder and Harder to Bear

If someone asked Ratchet what annoyed him the most, he would never be able to give a single instance or event, and would likely curse out the foolish person for asking with a range of curse words more vibrant than an exotic sunset. However, catch him on a good day (of course 'good' is open to interpretation), you might be presented with this for an answer:

_Jet Fragging Judo._

Jet Judo was a stupid and dangerous game the twins had invented. The pair engaged in this particular avenue of entertainment as often as possible, in spite of (and Ratchet sometimes thought they did it _because_ of) the many warnings _not_ to.

The CMO wasn't quite clear on the rules, if there were any, but as far as he could tell, it involved jumping on the back of one of the Decepticon Seekers; Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp; then trying not to get slagged as you hold on for dear life. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had varying amounts of success at this particular game, depending on the weather, mission, how high up the seekers were, and what sort of mood everyone was in.

In the complex stupidity of the game, the seeker which the twins chose also had an effect; Sideswipe seemed to be able to keep his hold onto Skywarp the best, whereas Sunstreaker seemed to have the best luck with Starscream, if he could catch him. Alternatively, if Sideswipe tried his tricks with Starscream, he would find himself swiftly dropped, and if Sunstreaker found himself landing on the blue jet that was Thundercracker, the yellow Lamborghini would lose his grip within a few moments' notice. Also, if the seekers were paying attention to one another (a rare event, but it did happen), it tended to mean that the twins would be bucked off reasonably quickly; grip loosened by an avenging seeker's wings coming to their comrade's rescue (again, rather rare, but it did happen, sometimes).

And on days like that, days like _today_, it meant Ratchet was running around the medical bay, spouting curses enough to make any Decepticon's paint peel, trying to keep the twins online.

"Of all the stupid fragging things they could do... Wheeljack!" The CMO had the inventor on side, putting the two idiots back together. The twins were the only ones with significant damage from the day's escapades, so, at least Ratchet didn't have to worry about anyone else going offline while he cleaned up their stupidity.  
"I got it, Ratch'..." Wheeljack was getting pretty competent with repairing the systems of the two Lamborghinis by now, having been called in to assist on just about every major injury the two sustained, most of them Jet Judo related.

It took them a few hours, but finally, the twins were stable.

Ratchet flopped back into his office chair with a deep sigh. "One of these days, I swear, I'll kill 'em myself." He grumbled.  
Wheeljack chuckled, and handed his friend an energon cube. "Naw, you love 'em too much."  
"Hardly." Was the retort as he took the cube. "Those two fraggers have been trouble ever since they were dropped into my care. Can't get rid of the aftheads."  
"Life would sure be borin' without 'em though, right?" Wheeljack tried.  
"To be honest, I could go with some boring right now, 'Jack, I really could."

…..

A set of ice blue optics were locked onto the monitors before him. He was watching over them again, as usual. He watched over all of his Autobots, no matter what they thought of him and his practices. If they didn't want to be riddled with Decepticons, then they'd just have to put up with it, now wouldn't they?

His gaze flicked to the medical bay screen again, the two Lamborghini Twins laying unconscious on the berths, stable, and waiting for Ratchet to refuel so he could finish putting them back together.

If someone asked Red Alert what terrified him the most, the answer you are most likely to get is something along the lines of 'The Decepticons sneaking onto the base and killing everyone' or 'The Autobots killing themselves with their own stupidity'. The one answer you would never hear him admit to however, would be Jet Judo.

Yes, Jet Judo.

He hated when Sideswipe and Sunstreaker took to the skies to chase after Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp. Because they always ended up hurt. Bucked off, sliced open by unfriendly wings, shot, stabbed, tossed onto something sharp, or electrified, or wet, or that was going to try and eat them, or whatever. He hated it. Yet they persisted. The security director knew that they weren't doing it just because it was fun, either.

Red Alert knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, they were doing it out of spite. Spite for those three who had joined the Decepticons in order to live. Spite for those that still had their wings. Who could still touch the sky. This is why successful rounds of Jet Judo always ended with a wing, proudly displaying the Decepticon crest, being cruelly torn off.

The fun of Jet Judo was being in the air. Being in the air, above it all. Slagging the Decepticons was a side benefit, as far as the twins cared.

He sighed, and put a hand on the monitor that held his mates. "You idiots." He grumbled. "Why won't you just... Let it go already?"

Not to say that Red Alert did not miss the kiss of the sky as well. He missed it just as much, if not more than the twins did. When they had been young, the twins would often come out of recharge and find him not in the room the three of them shared, but out in the sky, flying just because he could. When the training and the study became too much for him, and he became a nervous wreck of wires, he would go and fly for hours, just because he could. Because it made him feel free.

Because everything fell away beneath him.

Sure, he would go for a drive now days, when the stress of his overly and unnecessarily difficult job became too much, but it didn't really compare. Nothing could compare to the feeling being in the air could give.

There was a 'shhhh' sort of hiss sound as the door behind him opened, revealing a red mech with a bright smile.  
"Hey, Red!" Inferno said cheerfully as he entered.  
Red Alert didn't look up. "Inferno. Aren't you on shift?" He asked.  
Inferno snickered. "That I am." Red Alert couldn't help but smile slightly at the red mech's thick accent. "I'm on my way to the front gate, but, Prowl asked me to give you this on my way up." The Fire Engine smiled brightly, then unsubspaced and handed the Lamborghini a data pad.

Although he mostly kept it to himself, Inferno was rather fond of the Security Director. He was a fascinating mech to watch, and a brilliant enigma to puzzle over, once one started to notice the little quirks and cranks of the red and white mech.

Inferno had yet to uncover just _why_ Red Alert was the way he was. Certainly, he would imagine that the stresses of looking after this particular bunch of mechs, and stopping them from getting killed in their recharge cycle would run any mech into at least partial insanity after a while, especially with mechs like Mirage, who would walk around invisible just because he could, or Bumblebee, who took advantage of his smaller stature and used the ventilation system to move around just as often as he did the corridors.

There were so many things about Red Alert that Inferno had just not been able to grasp yet, and to be honest, he didn't mind the challenge.  
The best thing he could think of however, was how the Lamborghini seemed to smile every time he spoke. It made him think that perhaps there was a chance for him, with the sometimes infuriating creature.

Red Alert had just received something that was typical fare for the Autobots' Second-in-Command; the data pad's contents included a plain cover sheet, with naught but the recipient's name and assigned department in Prowl's own handwriting(which was so neat you could swear he had typed it, sometimes) at the bottom, then the content underneath, filled out with painstaking detail.

Red Alert flipped the cover sheet over and looked over the briefing below. Before he could stop himself, he found himself involuntarily shuddering.  
"Brilliant." He said dully.  
"Wassmatter, Red?" Inferno asked, leaning over the red and white shoulders to look at the pad.

"None of your concern, Inferno." Red Alert said firmly, flipping the blank cover sheet over once again. He liked Inferno, but he wasn't about to let him know things that he had no business knowing. "Aren't you on shift?" He repeated, looking up at his friend, a wry half smile beginning to show at the corner of his mouth.  
"Aawww..."

"I will see you later, Inferno."

And that was that. Inferno was unceremoniously, yet at the same time, cheerfully, booted from the Security Hub, the door sliding shut with a hiss behind him.  
Red Alert sighed, and looked down at the data pad once again. New recruits.

He hated new recruits. He didn't mind having the extra hands around the base, and the additional guns fighting the Decepticons was never a bad thing. But new recruits meant more people to watch for treachery. New recruits meant that there were more chances they would be infiltrated.  
In short, new recruits meant HE had a bigger headache.

He looked over the profiles he had been given.  
Fireflight, Slingshot, Silverbolt, Air Raid and Skydive.

"..."

Red Alert's hands tightened on the data pad, and he ground his denta together.

Fliers. Prime was sending for fliers.

…

It had never occurred to the Autobots why fliers made Red Alert so twitchy. He was twitchy with everyone, mind, but fliers seemed to make him _extra_ twitchy. Even Tracks, who had the ability to fly despite his land based alternate mode, seemed to be treated with that little bit of extra paranoia. No one would have guessed it was utter jealousy.

So when he was standing beside Optimus Prime in the main hall, greeting the new team of fliers, no one was surprised (bar the new Autobots, of course) to see him wringing a piece of paper around and around until it tore.

"...-ill help you get settled into the new routine. You'll be assigned quarters, and there will be a list of access codes for you to memorise, as well." Optimus finished, directing their attention to the Lamborghini, who seemed to jump, finding he was now the centre of attention. Blinking his optics rapidly a few times, he turned his blue hues on the five sets of expectant expressions before him. Carefully, and with practiced smoothness, he set his expression to 'neutral', and began to speak, silently cursing himself to the nervous stutter he couldn't stop coming out of his vocaliser.  
"...A-ah, yes. H-here..." He unsubspaced a data pad and handed it to Silverbolt, the apparent leader of the group. Group. Trine plus two. It seemed so... _wrong_ to him...

"Th-this is a list of the available personal quarters. You may choose which ones you would like. You can be as close, or as far apart from each other as you choose." Which was fair enough, as they had enough space, he thought.  
His own personal quarters were on the direct opposite side of the Ark to the room that the twins shared. That was a choice made to disassociate him from the twins to the outside optics of the Autobots, rather than to make any of them comfortable. If it wasn't for the bond between them, and for how the twins pushed their minds against his every night, Red Alert probably would have gone insane or just simply broken down long ago.

A voice jarred him out of his thoughts.  
"How many can you fit in the one room?" One of the new recruits asked. Slingshot. Right. Slingshot. Better start remembering their names.  
"Uh... you can fit two comfortably... three if y-you're willing to give up some recreational space..."

The white, red and yellow fliers looked at each other for a moment. "We'll only need two rooms, then." Silverbolt pointed out two rooms, side by side, in the lowermost decks.  
"V-very well..." Red Alert took the pad back from the young flier, and wrote on it, splitting the team of five into two and three to assign them to rooms. He then placed a small data chip in the palm of Silverbolt's hand. "This contains all the base level access codes. Distribute them amongst yourselves then destroy the chip. You can use it to get into all the common areas of the base. If the code doesn't work, then you're trying to get into an area that is restricted above your clearance. Insistent attempts to get into restricted areas will result in... consequences." He glared at them.  
"Red Alert..." Prime said warningly.

The Lamborghini coughed and straightened, pulling his glare back from 'silent threat' and putting it back into neutral. "You are free to move about the base as you like, up to your clearance level. However you may find some areas restricted by the dominant occupants of any particular area. I would advise avoidance of the Engineering Labs and the Medical Wing unless you have business there."  
Prime's gaze flickered upwards for a moment, but Red Alert pretended not to notice.  
"If there is anything else, you can file a report with Ironhide, or else come to me in the Security Hub."

"Sounds cool to me." The fliers smiled and nodded at each other in a way that made Red Alert wonder if they had a bond between them as well.

"You will be added to the shift roster tomorrow." Optimus said, looking down at the five. "You have the rest of today to explore and get to know the rest of the crew. Tread lightly to begin with. Some of the crew are very headstrong."  
"Understood, sir." Silverbolt saluted the Prime, but was quickly shoved by his teammates.  
"Come on, Silverbolt let's have a look around!"  
"Yeah, come on, Silverbolt!"

And in a flurry of white and wings, the fliers vanished down the hall in a chattering blur.

Optimus put a gentle hand on his Security Director's shoulder, not oblivious to the way the Lamborghini seemed to jump. "Are you alright Red Alert?" he asked. "You seem more nervous than usual."  
"I'm fine, Optimus." Red Alert assured him.  
"You're sure?"

"I am certain."

The Autobot commander gave the Lamborghini a long, hard stare. "Red Alert. You need to relax a little more. If you allow the stress to build too much, you'll short out again. And we don't want to lose you."  
Red Alert smiled at his commander, skilfully hiding the hurt beneath the surface. "Thank you sir, But I am fine."

What a _liar_ he was…

….

The five new fliers, identified as a unit under the subtitle 'Aerial Bots', proved themselves to be pleasant enough. Young, talented, a little hot headed at times, but alright. They turned the tide of a few battles in the days after their arrival, helping to route the Decepticon air force from taking off with the energon they were after. They also reduced the opportunity for Jet Judo, which, although annoyed the twins, couldn't have made Ratchet (or Red Alert) happier.

About a month after the successful debut of the young fliers, Red Alert began to notice a pattern of theirs. In those few hours they got off a day, four of them would take off and fly around in mad aerial games, while the fifth, Silverbolt, would stand on the ground and watch.

Watch. That was all. He never even _hovered._

It was mind boggling. Why would Silverbolt stay on the ground? He had _wings!_ He was a flier! He had that wonderful gift that was no longer bestowed on him or his trine. WHY did he stay on the ground?

The thought annoyed Red Alert enough that after a few weeks of watching this go on, he decided to find out. Leaving the Security Hub in Ironhide's hands, he headed out.

Silverbolt had found a rock he liked sitting on while his brothers played above. Some days he would read, or listen to that noise the locals called music, and others, he would just watch them play. Listen to the roar of their thrusters and their laughing banter.

"Got lead in your thrusters, Silverbolt?"

The young flier looked up, blinking to see the Security Director stalking towards him.  
"Oh... Red Alert, sir." He stood and saluted the higher ranked mech.  
The Lamborghini ignored the hail, and moved to stand beside the young mech, turning his head upwards to watch the others in the sky, his sharp optics watching the erratic patterns of the young fliers. So unlike the patterns of the twins... these ones really were erratic... dangerously erratic.  
When Red Alert didn't say anything, Silverbolt slowly retuned his optics to his brothers above.

"It never changes."

Silverbolt snapped up at Red Alert's sudden comment. "I'm sorry?"  
"Be it rain or shine, sun, sleet or storm... no matter what the weather, it's always the same." Ice blue optics that seemed as cold as their namesake directed themselves at the flier beside him. "Them up there... and you down here."  
Silverbolt smiled embarrassingly, and looked away from the Lamborghini. "Yeah, they like their air time." He admitted, looking up at them again.  
"And you?" Red Alert wracked his brains, trying to think of any reason why a flier would stay on the ground time after time. His first thought had been perhaps Silverbolt hadn't liked flying in a particular kind of weather. But, his sitting out was consistent. So the Security Director was at a loss.

"I'm... afraid of heights."

Red Alert made an odd noise, which was probably his engine stalling. "You... you're what?" He asked, doing a valiant job at not shouting at the mech. Did he hear right? Silverbolt was...  
"I'm afraid of heights, sir."  
"_That's_ why you stay down here?"  
"Yes sir. They can't get enough of the air. But... flying... rather makes me feel like I'm going to fall. When I need to fly to fight, I... I can get by, by not looking down, but to be perfectly honest, sir, I prefer to stay down on the ground."

Red Alert just stared at him. He wasn't hearing things correctly, was he? This was a flier who... who DIDN'T want to FLY? Was such a thing even possible?  
"Would you prefer a ground based form?" Red Alert dared asking. "A car or truck like many of the others?"  
Silverbolt chuckled. "It would probably suit me better, I think!" The young mech seemed to think it was funny! "There's not a lot of flying involved when you're on wheels, I'd imagine." No, but that was the problem!

"I see. Excuse me." Red Alert promptly turned on his heel and strode back inside, leaving a somewhat bewildered Silverbolt sitting alone, with only the shouts and laughter of his brothers hitting his audios.

Red Alert could hardly contain his rage at the entire _unfairness_ of it all!

The young mech couldn't be more different from Red Alert. Silverbolt would rather he had a land based form! He'd rather be a ground-pounder than a flier! Whereas HE couldn't STAND this accursed form he'd been shunted with... this horrible form over which they fussed and fawned and called a Lamborghini.

Oh it was so ludicrously _UNFAIR!_

…..

Mechs poured into the Recreation Hall as the day began to draw to a close. Most shifts were ending, patrols were returning, and more often than not, the first port of call for those Autobots coming off duty was the good old Rec Hall. With an energon dispenser on one side, specially ordered Autobot sized sofas and armchairs, and huge television screens on the other, and rows on rows of tables in the middle, it was the perfect and _preferred_ spot for kicking back, chilling out, and calming down for all but a very select few members of staff.

Red Alert was one of those few.

But, the mech still needed to refuel. And he had yet to convince the command element to have a dispenser installed in the Security Hub. They knew for darn sure that they'd never see Red Alert again should they provide him with a fuel source in there. He'd move in, bunker down and never leave!

This is why Red Alert found himself in the Rec Hell... er, _Hall_... that evening as the shifts finished.

He had made certain to calm himself after the altercation, albeit one sided (and if he knew there had been an argument, the flier certainly hadn't made move to show it) with Silverbolt earlier that day, having worked off some of his frustration by sporadically changing some access codes, locking poor, hapless Autobots in all manner of rooms and situations, only to change them back when they called for help. He even went so far as to ignore the brazen prank the twins were pulling on Prowl in front of the cameras an attempt to cheer him up, he was _that _annoyed.

By the time he had to venture out of the Hub for some energon, that pure and utter rage at the unfairness of his situation, had been rather successfully debunked. He knew he wouldn't be able to take much more of this... he'd lose his mind before long, he knew it.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were slumped on one of the couches in the corner, with Jazz and Wheeljack, chatting about one thing or another. There were other Autobots in the room too, scattered about, participating in various quiet activities.

His trinemates offered him a gentle, reassuring nudge as he entered, without even looking up, to which he offered a weary one in return. What he wouldn't give for a cube, some quiet, then to pass out for a few hours.

He managed to grab a cube and sit down at one of the vacant tables, and sip at it quietly for twenty minutes. Twenty whole minutes. None of the Autobots chose to speak to him, not even members of the command element, which he was eternally thankful for. Perhaps they could sense the tense aura that surrounded him like a black shroud. Perhaps his neutral expression wasn't as neutral as he thought it was.

Either way, he was left alone. Even his trine, who, although washed soothingly against him, were staying deliberately away from him. And for those twenty wonderful minutes, he actually thought he might have counted as calm.

Now, the Aerial Bots had been on base for no more than a month and a half. As such, they had yet to learn which mechs you could buddy up to and be friends with at the drop of the hat, and who you could _not._ They had not learned just what everyone's little quirks and quarries were, nor were they familiar with everyone's silent signals about how they were feeling.

As such, when the five of them entered the Recreation Hall in a sort of wearily cheerful tumble and spotted Red Alert sitting all alone in the centre of the room, and, with the vague memory of the Security Director coming to visit them while they had a play flight bustling in their minds, they grabbed some energon and sat around him.

"Good Evening, Red Alert, sir." Silverbolt said, nicely polite.  
"...Hello." Red Alert answered dully, trying to mask the seething hatred he had adopted for the Aerial Bot leader in the last half of the day.  
"Silverbolt said that you came out to see us today!" One of the others said, leaning across the table towards him, face alight with youthful enthusiasm. Who was he again...? Air Raid? Yes, that was it.  
"I did."  
The four fliers who actually indulged in flying brightened, looking delighted. "You watched us fly? Not half bad, are we?" They asked, wanting to hear approval for their deeds. They really were a bunch of children.  
"Did you see the part where Fireflight nearly crashed into Slingshot?"  
"Hey! That wasn't my fault..."  
"No, it was Air Raid's fault, for pulling off that barrel roll in the middle of the group, making me swerve so I was in your path!"  
"What? It was not!"

Seeming to forget that they were once attempting to hold a conversation with the Lamborghini, the Aerial Bots slipped into easy chatter amongst themselves, talking about various flight manoeuvres they had pulled off, conditions they had flown in and their preferences, even a few tales of crashlandings filled the air, and Red Alert felt those twenty minutes of pseudo-calm withering and dying in horrible, screaming agony.  
In their place, about ten minutes of inane aerial chatter gnawed at his processors; several million years of warfare stuck on the ground, being consistently shunted into small spaces and the distinct ache of vehement jealousy towards those who still had the power of flight, suddenly deciding to wrench themselves out of their carefully crafted holes deep in the mech's mind, and smack him in the face, as his defences were worn down by the banter that he once had enjoyed with his trine mates.

The young Aerial Bots didn't even seem to notice the heated glare that would have burned the very sparks from their casings had he that power (there would be no Decepticons, or even any Autobots left if he did) that Red Alert drilled at them as they continued to sit around him and blabber innocently.  
Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, although did not change outwardly, were suddenly particularly aware of their trine mate, detecting through their bond, the steadily rising levels of downright noxious rage that was rising within him.

After enduring fifteen minutes of the innocent banter, just in case they decided to stop and leave him alone, Red Alert stood. He had to get out of there before he lost it. And at the rate he was going, he needed only one little stress... ONE. TINY. TRIGGER. And he would lose it.

He hadn't gotten more than five paces away from the table that had been successfully subjugated by the Aerial Bots, when Prowl walked in. It was clear from the way he scanned the room that he was looking for someone in particular, and when his blue optics rested on Red Alert and he henceforth made a direct line to him, it was obvious who he was after.  
Red Alert didn't even have a chance to look for an escape before Prowl reached him and began talking, mistaking the Lamborghini's ire for his usual jittery personality quirk.

"There you are, Red Alert." He said in his easy, almost monotonic voice. "I've got a few things I need to go over with you, regarding the security roster. Prime wants to reorganise the roster..."

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker couldn't even hear the conversation from where they were seated, but they both snapped up, blue optics wide.

"...to distribute the workload more evenly. I also need you to complete this report..." Prowl unsubspaced a data pad and held it out towards Red Alert.

The red and yellow twins were out of their seats before Red Alert so much as twitched, but they were not fast enough to stop the former seeker.

With a professional, and very powerful blow, Red Alert swung a hand around and struck Prowl's wrist, sending the data pad flying from the tactician's hand and across the room, clattering to the floor. If that wasn't enough to send the gathered Autobots into flabbergasted paralysis, Red Alert's next action certainly was. His sirens and systems let out a shattering yelp as both hands snapped up to clutch at the sides of his head, then, in a voice that shook the Ark to its core, let all his frustrations _out_.

_**"SHUT UP!"**_


	3. How I Long For Those Skies

The stunned silence in the room was deafening.

A round of shocked, worried and slightly appalled Autobots stood, sat, or found themselves frozen somewhere in between, optics wide. Their Security Director stood in the centre of it all, shaking so hard that it almost seemed like he would shake himself apart. His optics were too wide, too bright, and very pale, and locked onto the floor in front of him.  
Prowl frowned slightly. He'd never seen Red Alert freak out quite this bad, and, as far as the Second-in-Command could tell, it had been totally uncalled for. He quietly sent word over a secure frequency to Ratchet, before taking a step closer.

"Are you alright, Red Alert?" He asked cautiously, gently placing a hand on the Lamborghini's shoulder.

The red and white mech snapped around violently, smacking his hand off him hard enough that it actually made the Datsun wince. "Don't you dare touch me, _Ground-Pounder!" _He growled, voice so vehement that it hardly sounded like his own.  
Prowl took a few steps back in surprise, face showing just how shocked he was.

A yellow hand suddenly wrapped around Red Alert's wrist, which was still extended after lashing out at the 2IC. The red and white mech yelped in alarm and looked back, finding that it was Sunstreaker.  
"That's enough, Red Alert." He said gently, shocking nearly everyone in the room with the total _lack_ of malice in his usually grumbly tones.  
"Sunburst! I... he...!"  
Sunstreaker wrapped his arms around the smaller form. "It's okay, Red. I've got you."  
There was an awed and confused murmur from all around, which made Red Alert tremble, the gravity of what he had just done starting to hit his processor. He started to babble quietly, unable to get thoughts out of his head in straight sentences. That made the onlooking Autobots mutter more, however, which made Red Alert even worse.

A red form suddenly planted itself between Red Alert and the onlooking crowd, facing away from his wing mate.  
"As you were!" Sideswipe barked at them, voice harsh.

Prowl looked at the bizarre scene before him. Red Alert looked more frantic than he had ever seen him before, and, while Sunstreaker held him, trying to keep him calm, Sideswipe seemed to be trying to discourage the stares of the others. To defend him from everyone else. Prowl had always had suspicions that the Twins considered themselves a different faction to everyone else, but to have Red Alert as part of it? It seemed... peculiar, at the very least.  
He flexed his wrist that had been struck. He had not known that Red Alert could summon such power.

The Autobots watched as Sideswipe looked over his shoulder at the still babbling Red Alert. "Red..." His optics flickered strangely. _'Red... hey... calm down...'_ He said through their bond.  
Red Alert's pale optics turned to look at the red mech before him. An incoherent tumble of thoughts came issuing forth from his mind, half of it filtering out through his mouth for all to hear.  
"...Can't... and... he... afraid... of ...can't stand it... Sidestream... Sunburst... I... it... it.. it's NOT FAAAIIIIIRRRR!" The last two words came out as a pained wail, and the Lamborghini proceeded to break down into hysterics.

The two taller Lamborghinis made noises of alarm, and, Sideswipe turning to hug the red and white mech from the other side, and the two held him while he wailed and carried on in front of everyone.

_'Red... it's okay... we're here...'_ The voices of his mates echoed within his processor, trying desperately to calm him. _'We've got you, Red... it's okay... we've got you... we won't let go...'_

Ratchet came in shortly after, and looked over the scene with a not so pleasant mix of confusion and irritation.  
"What the Pit..." He muttered, watching as the twins held onto the Security Director, almost... tenderly. That didn't seem to fit with Ratchet's view of the world, and he tended to dislike things that didn't fit with his view of the world.  
"...Alright, I'll bite." He huffed, stepping up to stand next to Prowl. "What did I miss?"

Prowl turned his head to look at the Medic, then held up his wrist. "Red Alert hit me."  
Ratchet made a grunt. "He hit you."  
"I don't think you understand, Ratchet." Prowl said, tone dark. "_Red Alert_ hit _me._"  
Ratchet looked at the Datsun for a moment before blinking. Hang on, Red Alert?  
"He did?"  
"Twice, actually." Prowl looked back at the twins, who were still holding the hysterical Red Alert in their arms. "I am unsure of the cause. However the twins seem... strangely sympathetic in this case."  
Ratchet sighed, and stepped closer. "Alright you two..." He said, addressing the twins. "Move aside; let me have a look at him."

Ratchet was used to the twins surprising him. They did so on a regular basis. But, even with all their surprises, Ratchet had known them for a very, very long time. And so he was of the opinion that he knew them quite well. That he could predict, more or less, how they were going to act.  
So their next move really sent him for a spin.

"_No._"

Ratchet recoiled. "I... I BEG your pardon? Did you just tell me NO?"  
Two sets of ice cold optics turned on the medic, and bored into him. "We said _no._ Go _away_."  
Ratchet spluttered, unable to form words enough to articulate his annoyance or surprise.

Red Alert, in the meantime, had slipped out of hysterical raving and crying, and into agonised, broken sobs.

The two taller mechs returned their gaze to him. "Shhh..." They both hissed gently.  
_'We've got you Red.'  
_"Its... not faarrriirr..." Red Alert cried, not really realising that he was speaking out loud. "It's noooot... I don't wanna be here anymoooore..."  
_'It's okay, Red.' _Sunstreaker said to him softly. _'We know. Calm down... please.'  
_"It... it's just..." Red Alert's optics dimmed slightly, alarming Ratchet, but not seeming to worry anyone else. "What are you... doing...?" Red Alert whispered.  
The minds of the twins were washing against him stronger than ever, seeping into his worn, stressed CPU like water, all the while whispering softly to him that it would be alright, that he didn't have to worry. That they were there for him.

And the strained mech was finding himself being consumed by the presences he had so longed for, being subdued by the wonderful, loving feeling of the twins. His twins. Lulling him into soft, soothing silence.  
"...Guys..."

"We got you, Red Alert." Sideswipe said out loud.

And that was it. Red Alert's optics dimmed all the way off, and he leant against his mates heavily, falling limp in their arms as he slipped from consciousness.

Ratchet stepped closer again. "Move aside, you two!" He ordered. "If he's freaking out enough to fall unconscious, then there's something WRONG!"  
"No, Ratchet." Sideswipe said as he moved back slightly from his brother and mate as Sunstreaker scooped Red Alert into his arms. Ratchet could have sworn he saw Red Alert _snuggle_ into that golden chest plate. "He's okay."

"That is NOT for you to judge!" Ratchet barked, feeling his 'irritation meter' rising steadily. "You're not the medic, last time I checked!"  
"Doesn't matter what you think." Sideswipe growled. "You're not having him."  
Without so much as glaring at the medic in agreement with his twin, Sunstreaker started moving towards the door. Ratchet and Prowl both stepped in his way.

"_Move._" Sunstreaker's voice was more venomous than usual.

Prowl glared. "You will defer to Ratchet, Sunstreaker." He said. "Or you will spend time in the brig."  
Sideswipe stepped up next to his twin. "And _you_ will move. Now. Or else I will have to hurt you."  
"Threatening me, Sideswipe?" Prowl hissed.  
"Just as you are us. Step aside."

The two parties glared at each other for a long while.

"And just where do you plan on taking him?" Ratchet asked finally, motioning towards the sleeping Security Director.  
The twins glared at him. "Away."  
Ratchet frowned. Why was he getting the feeling that there was something deeper here?  
"Bring him to the med bay." When it looked like the twins were about to refuse, he added, "You can stay with him there."

There was another long pause between the two groups, as the twin warriors regarded Ratchet carefully, trying to read his intentions. Finally though, they nodded.

Ratchet allowed himself a smile, before standing aside, letting the twins pass, carrying the slumbering Red Alert. Prowl gave the medic a look, but allowed it. There would be reprimands for the twins at a later date, of that there was no doubt. But, for now... they needed to discover what was going on. What had Red Alert so riled? And why was it the twins who had soothed him? Why had he _let_ them? Usually the twins annoyed Red Alert so much that they sent his sensors into disarray. What was different about today?

He needed to find out.

As the group left the Rec Hall, there was a stunned silence from all that had witnessed the scene. Red Alert being violent. The twins defending and calming him. The twins defying Ratchet for reasons that did not include annoying him, and then actually _threatening_ Prowl, who was one of the few that truly had their trust.

Jazz, in all his wisdom, managed to sum up the thoughts of everyone in the room in one, short sentence:

"What the SLAG was _THAT_?"

…

Had Ratchet been expecting the twins to place Red Alert on a berth in the med bay then sit or stand beside him, the medic was in for disappointment.

Gently laying Red Alert on one of the larger berths in the bay, the twins lay down beside him, surrounding his body with theirs, as their minds continued to soothe his frazzled spark.  
It wasn't exactly an _intimate _position, but it was certainly a _defensive _one. As if the CMO and the 2IC had suddenly been robbed of the trust that they had worked so hard to earn from the twins and the paranoid Security Director.

And to be honest, it didn't sit well with Ratchet.

"You two are going to have to move, so I can check him over." The medic said with a huff.  
"You're not coming near him." Sideswipe growled.  
"Not until we say so."  
Ratchet opened his mouth to argue, (and by argue, we of course mean rant) but Prowl stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.  
"Ratchet, may I have a word?" he asked, motioning to the far corner of the bay.  
Ratchet huffed, but followed the tactician across the room.  
"You can't be thinking of telling me to let them be." Ratchet huffed once they stopped walking, cutting across Prowl before he a chance to speak.  
Catching up with the sudden progress in the conversation in a spark-beat, Prowl nodded. "That's exactly what I am thinking, Ratchet."  
The CMO huffed angrily.  
"We're not going to get anything out of them this way. Not while Red Alert is unconscious. You know that as well as I do, don't you." It was not a question. "Something is going on, and until they are ready to speak, they won't."  
Ratchet sighed. "But I need to fix Red as soon as I can... otherwise the malfunctioning circuits may cause others to melt down."  
"I know that." Prowl said, restraining the urge to sigh. "But... look at them, Ratchet. Do you really think they're going to let you anywhere near him?"

Ratchet turned to look at the three Lamborghinis. It really was nice to see an expression of such calm and relaxation on Red Alert's face after so long. Even when the medic had placed him in stasis lock for repairs so many times in the past, he had never look so totally relaxed. Yet something about now... being held so gently by the two sets of arms which were among those that could tear whole limbs off mechs, was making him so relaxed. Ratchet frowned at the slightly endearing sight none the less.  
"Let them be." Prowl said quietly. "If our words are not enough to make them move aside, perhaps a higher power's might."  
"You're going to bring in Prime?"  
"He's the last one they might listen to. And, if they don't, we'll need the extra muscle to move them apart."  
"Well, can't argue with that one. The twins aren't light."

Prowl nodded, and his optics flickered slightly as he called for the Prime.

…

The twins were not fools. They knew precisely what Ratchet and Prowl were speaking of over there, even if they couldn't hear them. Red Alert's record for frying his circuits was infamous, so, it was normal to assume that was the problem with the smaller Lamborghini now.

They knew better, however.

_'This is our fault.'_ Sideswipe said silently over the link.  
_'How is this our fault?'_ Sunstreaker asked, glancing at his twin. _'You know how Red Alert gets sometimes.'_  
_'This isn't like those other times, and you know it. He's broken, Sunny. He's been on the ground too long.'_

_'That was his own dumb choice, Sides.' _Sunstreaker wasn't happy with the events that had transpired today, or over the last several million years, any more than his brother was. But, Red Alert was not a sparkling. He had to be accountable for his own decisions. _'He wouldn't even come flying with us when we asked. I have a sneaking suspicion that he wanted to stay on the ground.'  
_Sideswipe gave his brother a look. '_Oh, come on, Sunburst. I know you can feel his mind just as I can. You KNOW that's not true.'  
_Sunstreaker frowned at the use of his real name. Even though he knew their thoughts could not be intercepted by anyone, it still made him feel exposed... at risk of being discovered.  
_'You know what he's afraid of most.' _Sideswipe added, the final point on the matter made.

Sunstreaker frowned deeply. Oh yes, he knew. He knew exactly what their trine mate was afraid of most.

Ever since the beginning of the war, the seekers were firmly established as the Decepticon Air Force. Many of them had chosen to agree to Shockwave's terms, and join the army in order to save themselves.  
They were the odd ones out who managed to survive, even though they had refused. Perhaps it was a miscalculation on Shockwave's part on how much force he needed to use to offline the three young ones. Perhaps he presumed that they would bleed out before anyone came to find them. They didn't know.

The result, however, was that the Autobots were now deeply mistrusting of seekers. After millennia of convincing, as far as the Autobots cared, Seeker means Decepticon. And the thought of being labelled as a Decepticon terrified Red Alert.

Red Alert chose this point to snuggle into Sunstreaker, cuddling close to the yellow mech in a way that made him blush. Sideswipe chuckled a little.  
_'No one makes you blush like that except him.'  
'S-shut up.'_

_'...Sunny...Sides...'_

_'Red? Are you awake?' _Sideswipe blinked at the red and white mech between them, who still appeared to be comatose.  
_'No... I don't think so... but... I don't know... It feels like I can't get my body to respond.'_

Sunstreaker wrapped an arm around the smaller mech, pulling him close. _'You're probably so worn out, that now you're actually relaxed, you body has just said "nope, we're asleep now". It's what you get for not recharging properly.'_ He added with a chuckle.

The mind of their wingmate snuggled against them. _'...I missed you both...'_

_'We missed you too, Red.'_

There was a pause. _'Sunburst... Sidestream... I... I'm sorry...'  
'What for?'  
'I..'_ A wave of guilt radiated from the smaller form. _'I used... your real names...'  
'Eh, forget it. They probably didn't notice.'  
'But...! But if they did, they... they'll...'  
_The twins clung to him tighter. _'They won't do anything, Red.'_ Sideswipe told him firmly. _'We're Autobots. They know that. Nothing will change that.'  
'But... we're seekers...'  
_Sunstreaker let out a displeased huff. _'As much as I hate to admit it, Red... we're not. We're not seekers anymore. We're Lamborghinis.'  
_A spike of hurt came from their mate.  
_'I don't want to be a Lamborghini.'  
'I know, Red, we don't either. But... at least this way...'  
'I don't care anymore!'_ Red Alert twitched between them, making them hold him tighter. _'I don't care anymore! I can't stand it... I can't... I need to get out of here... I need to... to...'_

The twins held him tighter. _'...To fly.'_ They finished.

Red Alert began to cry again; soft, spark-felt sobs that drew his mates closer, and drew the optics of the CMO and 2IC, who had just hailed their Commander, and were waiting for him to arrive.

_'Shhh... Red... It's okay... it's okay.'  
'It's not okay!'_ Red Alert wailed in their minds. _'This is all my fault! We're stuck on wheels because I'm such a coward... and I made everything worse because I let it all get to me... I should have gone flying with you when I had the chance... it would have helped, at least... but I... I was too... too scared...'  
'Shhhh... Red Alert, listen to us. It's okay. Everything will be alright.' _Sunstreaker urged him.  
_'Sunny's right. We're not going to let anything happen. Okay?'_

There was another pause, but slowly, the sobbing stopped, and the red and white mech snuggled into his mates again.

_'Thank you.'  
'Hey, it's what we're here for, right?'_

….

When Optimus Prime entered the Medical Bay, he was met with an endearing sight. The three Lamborghinis were curled together on a berth, and looking so very content. Although confused, Prime couldn't help but smile behind his mask. It was nice to see that the twins cared about someone other than themselves, and, it was nicer to see that Red Alert had someone caring for him, and to care for. Although he had never once expected the combination of Sideswipe, Sunstreaker and Red Alert; that was a bit of a shock.

"There you are, Prime." Ratchet stalked over to the commander as the eighteen wheeler entered. "It's about time."  
"Apologies, Ratchet. What's wrong?"  
Prowl approached. "Red Alert had a fit." The Datsun explained. "The twins, however, are being unusually defensive of him, and will not allow Ratchet to get near in order to repair him."  
"I see."  
"If they do not respond to words, then... they'll have to be parted by force, unfortunately."

Prime looked over at the three once again. "I see. Well, let's hope it does not come to that." He sighed slightly, and stepped closer to the three Lamborghinis.

"Sideswipe. Sunstreaker." He said evenly.  
The twins looked up, their blue optics watching their commander carefully.  
"Ratchet needs to repair Red Alert. Move away, please."

There was a pause as the twins considered their commander's words. They knew that defying him was going to put them into a lot of strife, and they were already destined for some time in the brig, of that they were sure. But, Red Alert was of higher priority to them right now. He needed them close.

"No, Prime." They said as one.

Ratchet clenched his fists. They were being stubborn... unnecessarily so! And Red Alert's condition was only going to get worse if they didn't let him treat it, could they see that?

Prime was of a more even temper, however.

"Why not?"

The twins looked at him for a long time, clearly considering the pros and cons of explaining themselves to their commander. After a while though, they settled on a very unhelpful: "Because."

"You want him damaged?" Prime continued, ignoring the way Ratchet seethed behind him.  
The twins shook their heads at him.  
"He's not damaged, Prime." Sideswipe said quietly.  
"We would let him be repaired if he were." Sunstreaker added.

Although curious as to how they had come to this conclusion about their fellow Lamborghini, Prime could more than feel the glare Ratchet was drilling into the back of his helm. Obviously, the CMO had had enough of this fruitless questioning, and wanted the commander to act. However, Prime had one more question to ask before he took that particular path.  
"How can you be sure?"

"We just are."  
"Go away, Prime."

With a glance back at his CMO and 2IC, (and finding that he wasn't wrong about that glare) he stepped close to the three Lamborghinis on the berth.  
"Unfortunately, I can't. "

And he reached down, grabbing a twin in each hand by a nub of armour on their backs, and wrenched the two backwards, drawing a cry of surprise from the two as they were pulled away from the smaller mech.

What happened next happened too fast for anyone to follow.


	4. The Past Brings Forth an Ultimatum

He didn't think.

He didn't stop to wonder what was going on. He didn't look at who was involved. He didn't want to know why his mates had been moved away. He didn't even wonder about the consequences. All he knew was his mates were being pulled away from him. All he could feel was the spike of alarm from them both.

So all he did was let his body move.

Optimus was already in something of an off-balance position, having had to adjust his centre of gravity in order to heft the two, very not light Lamborghini twins off the berth. So, when a third Lamborghini leapt at him, pressing all its body weight into his shoulders, it was to be expected that he couldn't counter it.

His hands released the twins as he was knocked backwards, his vocaliser letting out a surprised yelp as he came crashing down. And he wasn't light either, so he came down _hard._

His attacker deftly flipped off him somewhere between falling and floor, and landed like a cat on all fours, a short distance away.  
He glared daggers at the person who had dared try and separate him from his mates... but it turned to surprise when he realised who it had been.

"Prime?" He said lightly, blinking in surprise at his commander, who was slowly sitting up, rubbing the back of his helm, which had struck the floor with all the body weight of the Autobot Commander.

Sideswipe cracked up laughing. "Nice reaction time, Red!" He declared. "Coma to kickass in less than two seconds. Nice!" Sunstreaker also looked rather amused.  
Red alert blushed at the comment, but turned his blue optics on his commander. "Prime... I... I'm sorry, I..."  
"Red Alert..."

The Security Director froze at the Prime speaking his name. What kind of trouble was he in? He just attacked a superior officer with no hesitation whatsoever!  
He started to shake, as his mind came up with the various possible punishments that Optimus could hand him.

The twins pulled themselves up and headed over to their mate. "Hey..." Sunstreaker said gently, resting one of his hands on the top of Red Alert's helm. "You're shaking again."  
"I... I... I just..." Red Alert muttered, terror flowing out of him like water.

The red and white mech watched with pale optics as the commander pulled himself up off the floor, and turned his sky blue optics on the three. Red Alert flinched, but, there was no anger in those hues.

Terrified words continued to tumble from the smaller Lamborghini none the less.  
"Prime... I... I... I'm sorry... I... I didn't mean..."

Prime shook his head. "Red Alert. You're getting yourself into a state again. Calm down, please."  
"B-b-b-but I... I..."

Ratchet couldn't stay silent any longer. "OKAY." He threw his arms into the air. "What is going ON?"  
"Ratchet..." Red Alert directed his optics towards the CMO. "I...ah..." he looked up at his mates, who simply smiled.

_'You know...'_ Sunstreaker said silently. _'If anyone should know... it'd be Prime.'  
'No!' _Red Alert shrieked. _'He can't know! He mustn't! If he does...'  
'He'll do what, Red?' _Sideswipe asked. _'This is Prime we're talking about here. Look at him! You attacked him and he doesn't care! He knows you wouldn't have done it without a good reason... he's not mad at you at all!'  
'No! I mean it! PLEASE... Sunburst... Sidestream... don't tell him... please...'_

Both twins sighed out loud and hugged the smaller form. "Oh fine then."

The three officers looked at the trio carefully. There was certainly something going on... something deep between the three.

Prowl stepped forward. "Twins..."  
They cut across him. "We know, we know." Sideswipe said casually. "We'll see ourselves to the brig."

And with that, they walked out. Prowl blinked confusedly for a moment, before heading after them to make certain that they went straight there, and that they were secured.

Prime was not blind to the look that was sent after the twins... a look of disappointment... of security lost. Of... longing.

"Red Alert..." Prime said gently, ignoring the way the Lamborghini jumped at the sound of his voice. "What are the twins to you?"  
Red Alert muttered something that Prime couldn't catch, and stepped back, withdrawing into himself as much as one could, directing his optics on the floor.  
"Red Alert?" Prime closed the gap between him and his Security Director, noting the way that the mech seemed to retreat more. "Red Alert... I'm not going to hurt you. Tell me what's wrong."

"I... I can't... Prime... I'm sorry... but... I can't..."

"Why not?"

"I... just... can't..."

….

No one was surprised to learn that the twins spent the better part of the week in the brig for that little escapade in the Rec Hall. They were a little concerned about the fact that they hadn't seemed to mind it at all, however. Even Sunstreaker had taken it with a pinch of salt, so to speak, when usually he would gripe and groan about his precious paint, and how being in the brig damaged it so.

There was an equal lack of surprise at how Red Alert seemed exceedingly shy and withdrawn, well, more so than usual. He had stockpiled energon cubes and locked himself in the Security Hub, allowing no one inside; not Prime, not Ratchet, not even Inferno. And the Fire Truck seemed to take it the hardest.

"Come on, Red, let me in." He said, standing at the firmly locked door.  
"No. Go away." Was the repeated, muffled response.  
"Red Alert... You must be running out of energon by now. Please?"  
"No, Inferno."

But the red mech would not be swayed. Every chance he got, every time he passed the Security Hub door, he would call out to the Lamborghini. Every off shift he had, he would spend at the door, trying to convince him to unlock it.

As the days wore on, Red Alert's resolve was slowly breaking. He was on his last few stockpiled cubes, and the relentless way Inferno kept asking for him... Why did he care so much? Yes, they were friends, but...

After a week of resisting, Red Alert at last opened the door, and let him in.

Inferno was shocked at the sight before him. The Security Hub itself was a mess; a pile of empty energon cubes on one side, a very small stack of full ones on the other, papers and data pads were strewn everywhere... and there was a series of scuff marks on the floor, where Inferno supposed the Lamborghini had been recharging.

Red Alert himself was not that much better. His optics were a tired pale, his face was slack, and his every movement was slow, and jagged. His paint was dull and scuffed, proving beyond a doubt that he had been sleeping on the floor.

"Red..."  
The listless gaze that was turned on him made Inferno shiver slightly. "...Yes?"  
Inferno smiled at him worriedly. "Red... You gotta come out of here. You're destroying yourself, doing this."  
Red Alert sighed and turned away, heading back to a console. "I'm fine, Inferno. Everyone out there is happier without me around to freak out on them, anyway." He said in a listless, disappointed voice. "Especially after my last... episode."

"I heard about that." Inferno stepped close to the Lamborghini and rested his hand on the other mech's arm. Red Alert didn't pull away from his touch. "You want to talk about it?"  
Inferno was met then with a strange expression.

Regret. Regret was showing in those ice blue optics.

"Inferno..." Red Alert's voice was soft, and afraid. "It... It's not that I do not want to. I do... I would love nothing more than to shout it out so everyone can hear, and be done with it."

"So, why don't you?" The fire truck wracked his brains, trying to think of some sort of secret that one simply couldn't get off their chest.

"I can't, Inferno." The Lamborghini shook his head and directed his blue hues on the monitors again. "I can't."  
"Why not?"  
"Because..." Red Alert sighed. "If people knew..." He flinched and turned away. "Then those I care about will be hated... I... will be hated. And... I don't know if I can handle being hated..." He trailed off and looked determinedly away from the other Autobot.

Inferno smiled at the Lamborghini. "Red, no one hates you now, and I'll be damned if you could say anything that could make everyone hate you."  
"You're wrong... it will wreck everything..."

Inferno moved closer, touching his hand to Red Alert's back. "Red Alert... I'm telling you right now, from the bottom of my spark... There is nothing you could say to make me hate you."

Red Alert turned and looked at the fire engine carefully, searching for anything to indicate that he might be lying... that he might take this fact and turn it into a reason to hate him. But... Red Alert could not see any. He sighed.

"Inferno..." He said, noticing the way that Inferno's optics lit up. "Truth is... I... I'm... I'm a..."

But the sentence went unfinished, as something on a monitor to the Lamborghini's side caught his attention, and he looked over. He stood abruptly.

"Decepticons!"

And at once the Ark was filled with sirens.

….

It was a long and arduous battle. The Decepticons were daring a raid on the Ark, using their impressive Air Force to distract the Autobots so the ground troops could get in close. It was an unusually good strategy for the rather headstrong and often disorganised faction.

The battle was, however, on the Autobots' home ground.

One must never underestimate a military group's home base, particularly when that group is the Autobots. After millennia of fighting the Decepticons, it was painfully obvious that they liked their air combat. So the logical path to take is to install Anti Aircraft defences.

The Decepticons seemed to forget that when they launched their mostly aerial attack.

So, with Sentinel Cannons blazing on the perimeter, and a spectacular effort from all Autobot Air and Ground troops, the Decepticons were fought back.

Red Alert picked his way through the battle scorched land towards his comrades, as they were picking up the pieces of themselves, and salvaging any Decepticon limbs that lay scattered akimbo all over. He stopped to stand next to his mates; a move which did not surprise the first and second in command.

_'Are you alright?'_ He asked, looking up at the twins.  
They both smiled at him. _'Right as rain, Red.'_ Sunstreaker answered.

Red Alert frowned. "What does that even mean?"  
They both snickered.

There was a pained shriek from the other side of the field, and everyone looked over. Bluestreak lay on the charred stone ground, grasping at his shoulder, which seemed to have been hacked at with a long, sharp blade.

"Look out! There's a live one!" Someone shouted.

Standing there, having just been pulled out of a ditch, was a tall seeker, painted in black and a dark, dusty green. Where the cannons usually mounted on the forearms, there were two long blades. He had a gruff look to him, and a glare that suggested he knew how to command troops.

The Lamborghini trine were unable to restrain their exclaim.

"Corkscrew?"

A few confused looks were thrown in their direction, but the moment was cut short as the seeker lunged forward. It was clear that he couldn't fly; the charring around his thrusters indicated that he had been shot or they had burnt out. But he didn't seem to mind fighting on foot, swinging his blades down towards the already downed Bluestreak before the gunner could move away.

"GO!"

A familiar voice rang out from somewhere in the group of Autobots, and, the next moment, a red and yellow pair had emerged, and planted themselves between the seeker and the Datsun. The twins caught a blade each, holding the seeker's arms still.

"Too slow." Sideswipe hissed.  
"As usual." Sunstreaker added.

The seeker growled at them, but did not grant them a verbal answer. He retracted the blades and dove at the twins, knocking them both over.

Some of the onlooking Autobots started to move forward to assist the twins, but a red and white form planted itself between them and the combat. "Do not interfere!" Red Alert barked at them, taking them all by surprise.

When none of them made any move to disobey his order (even though he was in no position to order anyone, but frankly, he didn't care), he turned his back on them to watch his mates fight. It was eerie... just how similar a combat this was... to all those years ago...

Punches and kicks were thrown by both parties, each and every strike being deftly blocked by the defender. It continued for a while, like a strange, violent dance. The twins matched the seeker in every way, just as he matched them. It baffled the onlooking Autobots that none of them had escalated to armed combat after this long, and it stunned them how the three combatants seemed to know each other's moves so well.

As it drew on, the Autobots started getting restless.  
"As entertaining as this is, shouldn't we do something about this guy?" Jazz asked, looking at Prime.  
"Yes, I ag-"

"You will _not_ interfere!"

Everyone looked at Red Alert, who was still standing at the front of the group, watching the combat with a critical gaze.  
"Sorry Red, but, whatever you're plannin'..." Jazz started, but trailed off when that critical gaze was turned on him.  
"You will NOT interfere, Jazz." He said firmly, glaring at the saboteur for a moment before returning his optics to the fight. "This is none of your business."  
"Red Alert, this seeker is a Decepticon." Prowl spoke up. "He _is_ our business."

Red Alert just watched the three continue to fight. Even though they had all been unable to land any hits on their opponents, they didn't seem to be getting frustrated. If anything, they seemed to be getting more and more amused as the fight continued.  
"Isn't it interesting..." The Security Director said casually. "How well they know each other's moves?"

Prowl frowned. "Red Alert... do you know something we don't?"  
Red Alert actually smiled at that comment. "I know a lot of things that you don't." He said lightly.

The Lamborghini started feeling around in one of his subspace pockets, and after a moment of searching, a short sword appeared in his hands.  
He ignored the confused mutterings as best he could, and darted forward towards the combat.

The Autobots watched in awe as Red Alert, very uncharacteristically, dived into combat. And it was the strangest, most rehearsed combat they had ever seen.

As the smaller Lamborghini drew near, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker suddenly dropped their attacks and fell into a kneeling position. Red Alert was holding his sword backwards, the blade running parallel to his forearm, pointing towards his elbow joint. In the same moment that the twins dropped, Red Alert stepped on Sideswipe's back and threw himself forward, ramming the seeker in the chest with his shoulder.

To further help matters, as Red Alert's foot left the red Lamborghini's back, both twins snapped out and grabbed the seeker's legs and wrenching them towards them.

The seeker landed on the ground on his back, hard. He looked up and saw a red and a yellow form as they stamped their feet down on his wings, _hard_, and a red and white form as it brought a sword down, heading right for his face.

The Autobots were quick to pick up on the intent, and they couldn't keep silent. "Red Alert NO!" Prime shouted, but the Lamborghini showed no signs of hearing him.

There was a loud SHNK! As the sword came down, and everyone froze.

Silence whistled over the battle field for a long, frozen moment, but then, it was broken by a laugh.

It was small and quiet at first; a low chuckle that rumbled across the barren stone like an engine in the distance, then cracking louder like a rolling thunderclap.

"Twins?" The voice asked, rich with laughter.

The twins stepped back, off the seeker's wings and Red Alert withdrew his sword, allowing the seeker to sit up. The Autobots let out a collective breath that none of them realised they were holding. Red Alert had angled his blow so it had struck the stone beside the seeker's head, not directly into his CPU like they had thought.

Although, it did not explain why the three were now treating the seeker like... a comrade.

Red Alert held out a hand to help the seeker to his feet, but it was declined. Red Alert didn't seem surprised or offended at the refusal, more he seemed approving of it.  
The green seeker looked at the three who had bested him. "Well... throw me to the Pit..." He looked at each of the Lamborghinis in turn, studying their faces carefully. "So... this is how y' escaped it? Twins? Red?"

Red Alert's gaze flickered upwards slightly, but he could not help but be thankful at this point, that their old combat instructor had picked up on the nickname the twins had made him, and was not shy about using it.

"If you could call it that." Sunstreaker huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.  
Corkscrew gave the golden warrior a look, but held it only for a moment before turning to look at the group of Autobots a distance away, watching them in a shocked stupor. His optic ridges rose slightly.  
"Do they know?" He asked in a quiet voice.  
"No." Red Alert answered him. "They don't."

The seeker folded his arms over his cockpit. "Ah." He looked at Red Alert for a moment, before a hand snapped out and backhanded the shorter mech, making him wince. The onlooking crowd tensed. "Then what are y' doin' getting all chummy with me, y' twit?" He exclaimed. "Cuff me or somethin'!"

Red Alert rubbed his cheek where he had been struck. "You didn't have to hit me." He muttered.  
"Like Pit I didn't!"

Prime cautiously walked over. "Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Red Alert, do you know this Decepticon?" He asked. Prowl walked behind the commander, a set of cuffs in hand.  
"We know him." Sunstreaker said, directing his optics to the seeker's underfoot thrusters, and internally wincing as he realised the extent of the damage to them.  
"He was our combat instructor when we were sparklings." Sideswipe added, looking rather smug.  
Red Alert did not speak.

"You were trained in combat during your sparkling years?" Prime asked, an optic ridge rising, yet obscured by the overhang of his helm.  
"Was part o' life where we lived, 'fore all this crap hit us." The seeker said casually, not resisting in the slightest as Prowl guided his arms behind his back and cuffed him. "I'm Corkscrew, by the way. Good t' meet ya'." He nodded a greeting to Prime, who seemed quite surprised at the pleasantness of this Decepticon.  
"All the good the training did." Sunstreaker huffed. "Shockwave still beat the living spit out of us."  
Corkscrew looked at the younger creature for a long moment, his mind slowly connecting the fragments of information he had. "Yeh." He said eventually. "We lost a lot of good mechs that day. Pit, I still can't stand that arrogant fragger."

"I..." Red Alert spoke up. "...had not expected you, of all of us, to have accepted his terms."  
Corkscrew made an odd snorting sound. "Trust me, Red, it wasn't m' first choice. Resisted till I had a ripped wing, and a fraggin' huge hole in m' torso, at which point m' self-preservation kicked in." there was something….. extra bitter in the trainer's voice.

"Is that how Megatron recruits his army?" Prime asked, as the Autobots started moving off, moving their prisoner with them.  
"About half o' it were caught that way. 'N half o' that half actually likes being a Decepticon. Personally, I'm of the group that dun really care, as long as I'm not dead."

_What a curious Decepticon,_ Prime thought as they took him through the Ark, and down, into the brig, where he was placed in a cell. Corkscrew didn't seem to mind.

…

Jazz was frowning.

It was an accurate display of just how irritated the Porsche was; he only frowned when something was bothering him _a lot._ And Prowl always became uneasy when something bothered Jazz that much.  
"Stop frowning like that." Prowl told him, looking up from the data pad he was working on. "It's making me uncomfortable."  
"Can't help it." The third in command said, beginning to pace across the office floor.

Prowl stood from his desk. "Alright Jazz, what is bothering you? I haven't seen you this annoyed for a long while."  
Jazz looked at the other black and white mech. "It's this business with the Twins, Red, and that Seeker, Corkscrew." He said. "It's bugging me... that they all know each other... and have done for such a long time, yet Red and the Twins mostly acted like they had met on the ship. Up until Red's little episode last week, that is."  
Prowl made a ponderous 'hmmm' sound, but did not speak, so Jazz continued. "I dunno if you remember that little spat as well as I do, but, Red said something odd during his little fit."  
"Odd?"

"Yeh. A pair of names. Sunburst and Sidestream. I looked them up, but there's nothing on them in any of the records I can find."

"From what I gather from the conversation earlier, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Red Alert and Corkscrew were all neutrals before their home was attacked, at which point they joined, or were forced to join, a side. Whomever these two were, they might have died in one of the initial attacks, so, they would not have any records."  
Jazz mimicked Prowl's 'hmmm', and folded his arms across his chest. "Maybe, but... I don't think so."

Prowl's optic ridges rose slightly. "Oh? And what do you think instead?"

Jazz's gaze darkened somewhat. "I think... Sunburst and Sidestream... are Sunstreaker and Sideswipe."

Prowl blinked at his partner. "What makes you think that?"  
"Red used those names... not just dropping them in amongst gibberish -well, yeah, it _was_ amongst gibberish- but he was using them like he was addressing someone by name. And he was talking to the twins at the time."

"Might have seen anything while in that state; point being, we don't know what was running through his head at the time." Was Prowl's final point.

"Well..." Jazz smiled in that way he always did when a challenge presented itself before him. "I might just have to find out then, mightn't I?"  
Prowl know that smirk. "I'll make a cell ready for you." He said, returning to his data pad, having no interest in Jazz's slightly less than honourable habits.

The black and white mech's optics flickered amusedly behind his visor. "I suppose that means good luck?"

….

Suspicion was like poison.

The way they had behaved when Corkscrew first appeared, and how familiar they had acted with him afterwards had cast something of a shroud of doubt over the three. Red Alert had noticed the sideways glances and whispered mutterings when he had passed, and, after he pointed it out to his mates, they had started to notice it too. Their actions had made them... outsiders... among their peers. Because after so many years, the Autobots had finally realised... they didn't know anything about them.

Red Alert wasn't taking it well.

After about four hours of feeling their trine mate's anxiety grow and grow, the twins grabbed him and toted him off, before another episode like in the Rec Hall the other day broke loose. Not wanting to take him to the Security Hub or to any of their quarters, they took him down.

Down into the brig, and they sat across from their old trainer, who watched them through the bars.

"So..." Corkscrew said after a time. "They don't know what y' are. Why haven't y' told 'em?" he asked.  
Red Alert sighed, and leant against Sideswipe's chest, listening to his spark beat against its casing. The red Lamborghini smiled at him, curling an arm around the smaller form, as Sunstreaker moved to answer the older seeker.

"We couldn't to start with." He explained. "Shockwave would have come after us if he knew we were alive."  
Corkscrew nodded his agreement.  
Sideswipe absently stroked Red Alert's helm, smiling as he felt the stress fall away from the smaller creature in vast sheets.  
"As things wore on..." He said quietly. "Seekers became... the bulk of the Decepticon Air Force. If we let the Autobots know... there are many that would... well, label us as Decepticons, and we would be shunted to some back line assignment somewhere, or else locked up so we can't do any harm."  
Corkscrew looked at Red Alert, who was still lounging on the larger mech. "Don't seem like y've had an easy time of it." He commented, speaking more to Red Alert then anyone. "Being on the ground for so long..."  
"Well, the two of us are front liners." Sunstreaker said with a shrug. "We've been able to starve it off somewhat by playin' with some of the seekers who are on that side for the cause. Red, though..."

"More conserv'tve?"

"You could say that."

"Well boys." Corkscrew looked at them carefully. "I think... with our little show out there... y' cover is all but blown." He frowned apologetically. "So. Y' can either come clean and tell 'em, or you can let 'em figure it out for 'emselves. From what y've said... If y' let 'em work it out on their own... it'll turn out badly fer y'. As the last true trine o' th' Temple... I dun wanna see y' split up 'n locked away."

Red Alert clung to Sideswipe desperately. Being locked up was a terrifying thought, but being split up from his mates was worse. The red Lamborghini held his mate tighter. "It's okay, Red. They're not gunna split us up."  
"But they might." Corkscrew said firmly. "Nothin' much can be done about me; I dug m' hole, now I gotta sit in it. You three, though... You can still take to the skies and stay Autobots. Their Air Force is lackin'. An' y' got good friends among 'em, 'm sure."

The twins looked at Red Alert. "Red..." Sideswipe said gently, stroking his helm. "...What do you want to do?"  
Red Alert looked up at them, thinking for a long while. But, Corkscrew was right. They were Autobots. The fact that they were seekers shouldn't change that. Not after all they had been through as a unit. But that fear of rejection still lingered.

"I don't want to be split up." He said finally. "I want to fly."

…

Jazz was both surprised, and at the same time not surprised to see that the Security Hub was empty. He was surprised, because it was most unlike Red Alert to leave it unattended, and not surprised, because of the way that everyone cast suspicious glances in his direction after that little display outside, that the Lamborghini would want to hide where they wouldn't find him.

With the pounding they gave the Decepticons, he didn't wager they'd be snooping, and Red Alert's not being here gave Jazz the chance to look around without a paranoid Lamborghini getting in his way and hiding things. So as far as he cared, everybody wins. ...Sort of.

For the most part, he found nothing unexpected. Data pads, paper, security stuff, a few energon cubes. He was about ready to go and look elsewhere, when something caught his optic.

At the bottom of the bottom drawer in Red Alert's desk, underneath an assortment of writing equipment, there was a splash of colour. Moving the pens and things aside, he pulled out an old photo.

His blue optics widened in surprise, and confusion.

The red and white one in the centre of the photo was looking rather embarrassed, but still, ridiculously happy. He had a red one on his right, with an arm casually leant on his shoulder, and a yellow one on his left, who had an arm on his helm. The three of them looked so proud, so happy... and they were all airborne.

But what Jazz couldn't understand was, why did Red Alert have a photo of- hang on...

The third in command slowly put pieces of information together in his mind. He knew that Sunstreaker, Sideswipe and Red Alert had been found together, after an attack. Their combat trainer, and one of the mechs that had likely helped raise them was a seeker, currently enjoying the inside of the brig. Red Alert had called Prowl a _Ground-Pounder_. And now he had found this photo of three which, the more he looked at it, seemed to be more and more like the Lamborghini Trio.

Which meant... the three of them were...

"...Seekers..."


	5. Tonight the Sky is Yours

Now what?

Jazz sighed and leant back, looking at the photo again. The resemblances between these three seekers and the three Lamborghinis that he knew were striking; apart from the obvious frame difference, they were more or less the same. Their faces, if you looked at them, were identical. They had chosen paint jobs to resemble their old. Apart from the way that the one in the middle, whom he presumed to be Red Alert, was accepting the rather intrusive hands of the twins to drape over his shoulders and wings, and the look on his face was rather... content with that fact. He was smiling, which they didn't often see, and he was, sweet Primus, _blushing_. The smallest of the three winged mechs was holding in his red hands what appeared to be a report card, with 'pass' written beside every subject. Three names were printed across the top:

_Sunburst. Sidestream. R-_

Red Alert's fingers covered the third name on the report, and from the way he was holding his hand, it looked like he was doing it deliberately. Why he would do that, Jazz wasn't sure...

…..

_"Alright you three idiots... hold still. Red, hold up your report card so I can see it. Red, your hand is in the way of your name!"  
The seeker in the centre pouted. "I'm not moving my hand."  
"Oh, alright, suit yourself."  
Sunburst chuckled, and hugged the smaller seeker. "You don't want people to know you passed with a sparkling designation." He said teasingly.  
"Shut up, Sunny."  
Sidestream chuckled at his twin, and draped himself over his friend's shoulder, letting his arm hang over the red and white wing. The red and white mech shifted his shoulders slightly, but ultimately, did not object to the weight across his left wing. The instructor arched an optic ridge at that. No seeker he had ever known had tolerated anyone hanging off his wings. Not even Forged trines. Why did this mech they called Red Alert let these two...?  
Shrugging it off, the instructor readied the camera. "Okay okay, come on. Hold the card up. Say 'Your mother was a Ground-Pounder'!"  
The three burst into chuckles, and the camera clicked._

…

Jazz sighed, and planted himself in Red Alert's chair, swivelling around to look at the screens.

They weren't off. Never in Red Alert's right mind (or even in a wrong mind) would he even _consider_ turning them off. Not even if he was spending the night in here. (It was at this point that Jazz noticed the state of the Security Hub and concluded that the red and white mech _had_ been spending his nights in here recently, which made the black and white mech sigh disapprovingly.)  
He turned his visor to the screens, roving over the various locations they showed, noting with vague interest that Prowl and Prime were in Prime's office, Tracks was getting his second tirade of the day from Ratchet and the Aerial Bots were sulking in the Rec Hall. What about, Jazz couldn't tell.

The one that caught his interest, however, was the screen that showed the brig. Corkscrew was still in his cell (thank Primus for small mercies) but the three Lamborghinis sitting against the wall _outside_ his cell...

He shouldn't be surprised that they had placed themselves close to the seeker, but seeing three of their most loyal Autobots going to a Decepticon for comfort was... a little hurtful, actually.

With a shake of his head and a sigh, he ran his black fingers over the keyboard, slipping into Teletran-1's system with his oh so lovely third-in-command privileges.  
Leaving one screen focused on the group down below decks, he pulled up the personal files of the three onto a screen beside it.

Sideswipe. Sunstreaker. Twins. Warriors.

Found in Polyhex ruins after Shockwave and an assault group moved through the city. According to the medical report, they were at what the humans called the 'Late Teens' stage, and had to be rebuilt from the ground up, nearly. It was a wonder they were still alive.

Red Alert's file wasn't that much different, although the report read that he was much too light-weight for a warrior, and leant more towards quick strike actions at best, or desk work at worst (Best and worst being the Porsche's way of looking at it) and, it also mentioned that the smaller of the three was in fact, in his 'Mid Teens' stage when they had found them. ...He was that young? Really?

Jazz frowned and pulled up files regarding the Polyhex area where they were found.

The building that the twins and Red Alert had been found in had been a vast multi story building. A school, presumably, and confirmed by the photograph. The ruins indicated that the corridors were wide, and ceilings high, the roof had been flat, and there was an enormous underground section, three times as wide and high as the rest of the complex. That was where the three had been when they found them. He couldn't think of a reason why the underground floor was so huge, although he would bet his rear axle that it had something to do with the fact that it was a) underground and b) inhabited by seekers. Seekers which were notorious for being claustrophobic.

He paused at that thought, and looked around the room. "Hmm..."  
Making an estimate to their wingspans, which would be about their arm span, he guessed, he quickly checked out how comfortable the Security Hub would be to a seeker. With his arms out to his sides in imitation of a wingspan, it wasn't hard to tell that this was a _small_ room.  
Jazz put a hand to his forehead and shook his head with a sigh. No wonder their Security Director was always a jittery bunch of nerves. They put him in a box.

He fought back a sigh as the Obvious Fairy kicked him square between the optics, and returned his gaze to the screen.  
Scouring over the large amount of mostly irrelevant, unhelpful and disinteresting information, Jazz came across something else.

The list of casualties.

They didn't have names, of course. No one knew them, and many were disfigured enough that you wouldn't have been able to tell one body from another. But approximated model, age, colour, and the sheer number of them were all there.

Seeker.

Seeker.

Seeker.

Presumed seeker.

Elder seeker.

Sparkling.

Sparkling.

Sparkling.

Seekerlet.

Seekerlet.

The list went on with painstaking and sickening detail; nauseating efficiency that was trademarked by the infamous Tridlespin. Jazz had seen Trindlespin's reports before, and knew that he just didn't have the time to read this report properly.  
But he had gotten the idea.

Almost every single body they ever found in that place was a seeker, or a youngling with stumps on their back enough to suggest that they were _going_ to be seekers. This had been a minor detail at the time, and, as people moved to forget the attack, it was a detail lost in the ether.

Jazz sighed. He had to tell Prime, at least.

….

They had to tell Prime, at least.

The three former seekers had made up their minds. They would reveal it. But... how to go about it? Corkscrew was right in thinking that if they let it be, and allowed the others to slowly figure things out for themselves, it would reflect badly on them. If they came right out and said it...

Red Alert clung to his mates. He was nervous.

The twins hugged him. "Red... it's okay. This is Prime. Once we call him, we'll tell him, and that'll be that." Sideswipe said.  
"He won't do anything to us. Not now." Sunstreaker added.

"I hope not." Was Red Alert's response. "I really, really hope not. I don't think I could handle losing you two again."

They smiled at their mate, and continued down the hall, heading towards Teletran-1.

For all their brave words, none of them seemed willing, however, to just contact Prime and be done with it. An awkward pause filled the air as they stood before the Autobot Super Computer, waiting for one of them to DO something!

Red Alert sighed. "This is... going to be harder than I thought." He said depressingly.  
The twins offered grunts of agreement.  
Sighing deeply, the smaller of the three mechs turned to Teletran, and started sifting through the many files the computer contained.  
"What are you doing, Red?" Sideswipe asked.  
"I'm looking for our old frame class blueprints." Red Alert told them. "In case... Ratchet needs them." He grunted. "I wouldn't like to be stuck with the wrong class frame, would you?"  
Sideswipe recoiled in mock horror. "To be put in a Lancer frame would be Pit!"  
"Or a bulky-aft Freighter frame!" Sunstreaker added, making a grandiose gesture.  
Red Alert giggled as he searched for the two frame types that were theirs.

"Or worse still!" Sideswipe and Sunstreaker looked at each other, mirroring the mock terror. "A _Common!_" They let out fake wails of horror, and Red Alert couldn't take it anymore. Grasping at his sides, he laughed, loudly.

The twins watched him laugh, both of them adopting very tender smiles and a tint to their faceplates. Red Alert noticed them smiling at him after a while, and his laughter withered. "...What?" He asked, shyly.  
"Nothing." Sunstreaker said gently.  
"It's just... been years since we heard you laugh... really laugh..." Sideswipe moved close and hugged the smaller creature. "We've missed it."  
Red Alert blushed. "Sides... Sunny..." He said in a whisper. He let himself rest in Sideswipe's arms for a few moments, before pushing himself out of the embrace and turning back to the computer. "You two were both Hunter Class frames, right?" He recalled.  
"Hunter Class mods, yeah."  
"Mods?"  
The twins nodded. "Yeah. We were modified to have VTOL abilities when taking off in our alternate modes. Nothing fancy." Sideswipe said with a shrug.  
"Not that we ever took off from a runway in jet mode anyway." Sunstreaker added with a smirk. "What about you, Red?"  
Sideswipe blinked. "Yeah! I don't think you ever told us what Class you were!"  
Red Alert blushed again, and turned back to the computer. "Interceptor..."

The twins stared. "You were an _Interceptor_? Really?"  
"Yes..."

They looked at each other, amazed. "We're bonded to an Interceptor... wow..."

Red Alert smiled to himself for a moment more then, pulled up a blueprint. "Here we are... the old me..."

"Ooh! Let me see! Lemme see!""  
"I wanna see it! OW! Sides, watch it!"

In an excited scramble, the twins of red and yellow dived at the console, wanting to see Red Alert's blueprints. Tripping over themselves in their revelry, the twins crashed into Red Alert's back and the three slammed into the console.

Teletran-1 let out an ominous array of beeps, clicks and whirrs as various systems inside him started up. The trine looked at the computer with wide optics, having terrified themselves into stillness, still slumped over the console.  
"Oooh... that doesn't sound good..." Red Alert whispered.  
"Did we break Teletran?" Sideswipe asked.

But before any sort of answer could be gathered, several panels of metal opened up on Teletran-1's sides, and several mechanical arms snaked out. They grabbed Red Alert from the console and wrenched him out from underneath the twins and into the air. The Security Director let out a surprised shout, which morphed into a slightly pained one, as the arms started removing parts of his armour.  
"Red!" The twins pushed themselves up and made a grab for their mate, but the computer pulled the smaller creature out of their grip, and enveloped him in a bright light.

The twins froze as they realised what this was.

Just like four years ago... when they woke from stasis, Teletran-1 was... rebuilding him. But Red Alert wasn't damaged! Why was it rebuilding him? As what?

The twins could only watch the glowing white shape in the air that was their trinemate, as Teletran-1 pulled off his outer plating, replacing it with something else.

Ten minutes later, Teletran's system decreed him complete, and placed Red Alert on the floor, where he sat, grasping at his head.  
The twins gasped.

"R-Red?"

Red Alert looked up. "W-what?" He asked, weakly. "Ooh, that hurt..."  
"Red... look at yourself!" Sideswipe exclaimed, suddenly looking delighted.  
The red and white creature on the floor looked up at the red warrior confusedly, but then looked down at his chest, only to see...

A cockpit.

Red Alert jumped to his feet with a yelp, and looked over his entire frame. Teletran-1 had... had...

"I... I have... I have... wings..." Red Alert looked like he was about to weep with joy. "I'm me again! I'm me!"

And it was true. With some reasoning that was beyond the trine, Teletran-1 had taken Red Alert, and rebuilt him, just like years ago. But, instead of going out into the world and scanning a car as it had done in years past, it had used the blueprints active in its systems. Red Alert the Lamborghini was dead.

And in his place, stood Red Alert the Seeker.

The twins were thrilled. "Why did Teletran-1 do that, though?" Sideswipe wondered, looking up at the computer, which now displayed 'COMPLETE' across the Interceptor Class blueprints.

Red Alert suddenly jumped at Sunstreaker, his arms going around the warrior's neck, and kissing him excitedly. Sunstreaker froze, blushing like a turnip.

Red Alert blushed madly as he broke the kiss with the yellow warrior. "Sunny... sorry... I shouldn't have done that..." He muttered.  
Sideswipe snickered and stepped close, admiring the long, sleek wings now attached to his mate's back. "How do they feel, Red Alert?" He brought his black hands forward and gently stroked the undersides of those red and white wings, delighting in how it made Red Alert blush, and make a sound that was somewhere between a shudder and a gasp, the seeker's back arching slightly.  
"Sideswipe..." The red and white leant against the twin in front of him, and shuddered at the touches of the twin behind him, who was grinning impishly.  
"As sensitive as ever." He said lightly. "This will be fun."

"As much as I agree with you, Sides..." Sunstreaker said softly, still reeling from Red Alert's kiss. "Perhaps we should get our lovely little Interceptor into the air."

Red Alert made a delighted squeak. "Oh yes! Yes!" he bounced on the balls of his feet, their confession to Prime forgotten.

…

Inferno was frowning.

This was not as rare as say, Jazz frowning, but unsettling it was none the less. And the reasons for this frown were deeply justified. Red Alert was not here.

The Security Hub was rarely lacking of the Lamborghini, and even rarer was it left unattended. Yet here he was, standing in the midst of the chaos Red Alert had let appear over the last few days, with no one, not even Ironhide, in sight. Red Alert had left the Security Hub unattended.

Inferno groaned worriedly. Ever since that outburst in the Rec. Hall, Red Alert had been acting more and more out of character. It was as if his whole world was crumbling down around his audios, and he just couldn't handle it.  
Inferno hadn't been there for that first outburst, but, he had seen the results. And to have his friend constantly in a state of utter panic was painful for him.

With a deep sigh, the fire truck turned his optics to the screens. He would have to call Ironhide to come and cover until they could find Red Alert.

But then the fire truck froze, spotting something in the sky displayed on one of the monitors. He stared at it, and as he watched, he saw it bank to one side, revealing its shape in the night, moonlight glinting off its long wings. It was no human plane, that was for sure. That...

That was a seeker!

A moment later, the whole base was alert and active.

….

Red Alert and the twins had emerged from the base into a perfect night. A large, beautiful moon amongst a splattering of stars; no clouds, and not a lick of wind. Perfect for someone who hasn't flown in several million years.

Red Alert marvelled at the sky for a moment, not at its appearance, but at the thought that it was all his. Tonight the sky was his.

He looked back at his mates, who were both smiling happily. "Go on, Red." Sideswipe said gently. "Show us how you fly."

That was all the encouragement the mech needed. With a delighted squeal, he gunned the thrusters under his boots and rocketed into the sky.  
The twins watched worriedly as he flailed slightly, trying to get his balance. Primus above, it was like watching a sparkling on his first set of wings! But after so long... The twins couldn't blame him. They didn't think they'd be much better off when they finally returned to the sky.

_If._ Their processors reminded them, but... what reason would Optimus Prime have to deny them? Why would he say no?

Red Alert was quick to regain his balance, and he transformed, soaring cautiously and carefully as he slowly rediscovered his in-flight systems. As he became more and more familiar with his old self, his flight became less and less cautious, and he began looping and soaring around in wide, twisted arcs.

The twins watched him fly, the silver light of the moon glinting off his regal wings.

"Never thought I'd see this again." Sunstreaker admitted.  
"Me either. But... Primus..." Sideswipe smiled at the form in the air lovingly. "He's a beautiful flier, isn't he?"

The peace of the night was suddenly shattered as scores of Autobots emerged from the Ark behind them, and pulling a bead on their trinemate in the sky.

….

The timing on the issue was uncanny, Prime thought.

"I found this in Red's desk." Jazz had said to him, handing him a photograph. The Autobot Commander had been about to launch into a noble lecture about rooting through other people's things, but, his optics had landed on the picture first, and the lecture was routed.  
"What is this, Jazz?"  
"It's a photo." Jazz said, resisting the urge to be cheeky. "As far as I can figure... that's our three Lamborghinis right there."  
Prime gave his SpecOps commander a look. "Jazz, this is a picture of seekers."

Prowl, who had been working the in background but not really listening, suddenly perked up, knocking over the careful pile of data pads he was making on Prime's desk. He looked at his commander and his friend, now definitely interested in the conversation.

Prime noticed Prowl's reaction, but, pushed it aside in favour of questioning Jazz. "What brings you to that conclusion, Jazz? These three could be anybody."  
"They could be, but I'll bet my rear axle that they 'aint." Jazz said determinedly. "No one knows anything about the three until they were found, repaired and recruited. We have one of the mechs who _raised_ them below decks, and he's a seeker."

"That does not mean that the Lamborghinis are seekers in disguise." Prime countered.

"I've looked them up, Prime." Jazz continued. "The building they were found in? A school. And all the dead that we found there? Apart from the odd Decepticon, they were all seekers, or younglings that were gunna be. Red Alert called Sideswipe and Sunstreaker by the names Sunburst and Sidestream, and those are the names you can see on that report card in the photo." When he saw Optimus direct his optics towards the photograph again to confirm this, Jazz looked over to Prowl. "And the other day... Red called Prowl 'Ground-Pounder'." Jazz finished.  
Prime looked over at Prowl, who nodded in confirmation. "It is true, Prime." The Datsun said.

Prime was thoughtful. If the three really were seekers in disguise, did that mean that they were Decepticons? The thought was fleeting. Red Alert, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were certainly _not_ Decepticons. If they were, there was little chance of any Autobots being left alive at this point. With the two vicious warriors and the Security Director who had control over most everything in the Ark, between the three of them, they could make short work of the entire army.

Realising this made Prime somewhat depressed, but, he comforted himself with the thought that the same thing could be said about any of the Autobots, including himself.

...It didn't help as much as he had hoped.

Suddenly, alarms rung out through the base. _"Attention all Autobots! Seekers spotted in Ark Airspace! Repeat: Seekers spotted in Ark Airspace!"_

Yes, the timing was uncanny.

….

Red Alert yelped as shots whizzed by his new wings. Transforming and hovering, he looked down, Blue optics widening as he realised that he was being fired upon by his own comrades.

Why? Why would they shoot at him? What had he done? Didn't they know he was friendly?

But then it occurred to him; they _didn't_ know. They never ended up telling anyone who they really were, not even Optimus. They had been distracted by Teletran-1's unexpected intervention.

The seeker was pulled out of his thoughts by a shot that suddenly struck his left wing. He let out a shout of pain and his hands went across to grasp at the end of his wing. Another shot struck him in the thrusters, and he tumbled to the ground, landing on the hard stone with a THUD.  
Autobots swarmed towards him, some with weapons trained on him and others getting ready to restrain him. Red Alert whimpered. This is exactly what he thought was going to happen...

Suddenly the Autobots stopped.

Two figures had planted themselves between them and the seeker, arms splayed, and angry glares in their blue optics.

"YOU WILL NOT TOUCH HIM!" The twins shouted together, defiantly protecting their mate.

Optimus Prime pushed his way through the throng of confused Autobots, until he was standing right before the twins. "Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, move aside." He ordered.

"No, Prime!" Sideswipe shouted.  
"You can't have him!"

While the Autobots behind him were shocked speechless, Prime was overwhelmed with a sense of de ja vu...

Hadn't he seen this before?

The wounded seeker groaned, and sat up. Sunstreaker looked back at him. "Are you alright?" he asked.  
A white face, marred with the red dust of the area surrounding Mount Saint Helens, turned up to look at the yellow warrior, blue optics glinting with pain. "It's bearable." The seeker huffed.  
Sideswipe saw Optimus frown. He had seen Red Alert's face and heard his voice. Could he make the connection, perhaps?

_'Sunny, Has Red still got Autobot insignias on him?'_ Sideswipe asked, watching the Autobots mutter amongst themselves, trying to come up with ways of getting around the twins.  
Sunstreaker looked over his mate. He couldn't see an insignia anywhere, but there sure as hell wasn't any trace of purple. _'I can't see one. We'll have to get them painted on, later.'  
'Yeah.'_

Optimus Prime took a few steps forward. "Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, stand aside." When the twins opened their mouths to argue, he interrupted them. "I won't hurt him. I just want to see him."  
There was a long pause from the twins. The red and white seeker stared at the back of their heads for a time, before looking at the Autobot commander.

Finally though, the twins took a few steps to the sides, letting Prime get near.

The large red and blue mech crossed the distance between them and crouched beside the wounded seeker, looking into his blue optics. "Are you hurt?" The commander asked.  
"A nick to my wing, and my right thrusters took a hit, but otherwise... No..." Red Alert answered, fists clenched and jaw set, trying to keep his bravery in check.  
Prime blinked at him, once, slowly. "I know you, don't I." He stated.  
Red Alert nodded slowly. "Yes, sir. You do. I've worked for you for years."

"...Red...Alert?"

The seeker nodded, and looked down.

"You... are a seeker?"

The trine were all suddenly gaping at the commander. "Prime! You... you knew?" Sunstreaker exclaimed.  
"Jazz came to this conclusion, and brought it to my attention just now." Optimus said, not unaware of the glares sent in Jazz's direction. "Sideswipe... Sunstreaker, you as well?"

The twins nodded at him.

"We were... going to tell you..." Red Alert said in a small voice. "We were... but... we... had something of an... accident with... Teletran-1... and it... rebuilt me as this... and... I... I wanted... I only wanted to... to fly... again..."  
The young seeker's hands suddenly snapped up, grasping at his leader's arm. "Optimus! Please don't take my wings away again! Please don't! I don't think I could stand it, PLEASE!"

Optimus recoiled slightly. Was the Security Director THAT paranoid that he thought the Prime would order his true form be hidden away? That he would condemn him and his trine to a life of confinement when they were so used to the freedom of the sky? To slowly drive them insane?

Did he think so little of him?

"I'm not going to have you converted back, Red Alert. I couldn't..."

"Prime, you mean it?" Sunstreaker barked. "You won't change him back?"  
"No, I won't." Prime straightened and looked at the confused scores behind him. "Back inside, Autobots. There's no threat here."

"What about the Decepticon?" Someone shouted.

Red Alert was on his feet in a moment. "I am NOT a Decepticon!"  
There was a murmuring. "What, an Autobot seeker? What nonsense..."

Prime frowned. "SILENCE!" He boomed.

Now, the Autobots were used to shouting. Ratchet did it all the time, for example. Some people, much to Ratchet's annoyance, could ignore or counter his ranting, yelling, looming and threatening. But when Optimus Prime _boomed_, people shut up. When Optimus Prime _boomed,_ you did as you were told and you did it FAST.

He cleared his throat. "Now, Autobots, I assure you, this seeker is not a Decepticon. Nor is he a stranger to you." He looked over his men for a moment to make sure they were all paying attention, before sweeping a hand towards the Interceptor.  
"This, Autobots, is Red Alert."


	6. The Red Crest

He had never felt so uncomfortable in the med bay before.

Red Alert was sitting on a repair berth in the centre of the bay, with his mates by his side, while Ratchet cursed him and his entire family line to the Pit for letting him get shot. If the medic was irritated at Red Alert's unexpected change of form, he wasn't making a point of it, busying himself with the burns on his thrusters instead.

After a while, the medic straightened, and looked at the seeker. "Red..." He asked, tone losing the irritation somewhat.  
"Y-yes, Ratchet?"  
"Why didn't you say anything before now?" The CMO gave the three a strange expression. It wasn't one of anger... more of... guilt?

When the situation had been explained to the medic, Ratchet had indeed felt very guilty. He had repaired them himself, when they were found, and, by building them with ground bound frames, he had unwittingly put the three though unspeakable torture. And just the thought of it sickened Ratchet to the core.

"Why did you let me do what I did to you?" He asked, the guilt invading his voice.

The twins looked at each other before looking back at Ratchet.  
"Ratchet... " Sideswipe said after a moment. "Don't feel bad... we got along... okay..."  
'Okay' was about the best word that could be applied to the situation. They hadn't gone _completely _batshit insane, so, yeah, they were 'okay'.  
Ratchet didn't seem to agree. "Don't lie to me, Sideswipe!" He barked. "Why didn't you say anything? I would have reconfigured you all on the spot if you had just _told me!_"

"We couldn't, Ratchet." Red Alert said quietly, looking down.

"Why not?"

"Ratchet... We had just been beaten within an inch of our lives." Sunstreaker said, a light frown on his face. "Shockwave fragged us over hard."  
"We were scared, Ratchet!" Red Alert exclaimed suddenly, hugging himself around his cockpit. "We were scared!"

Ratchet blinked and recoiled slightly. "...Of us?"  
Red Alert looked away. "Yeah... a little." He admitted, not oblivious to the look of hurt that crossed Ratchet's features. "We were neutrals. We had nearly been killed by the Decepticons, but... we didn't know how to trust the Autobots yet, either."  
"We figured that if we stayed as Ground-Pounders, Shockwave wouldn't come looking for us to finish what he started in Polyhex." Sideswipe finished.

"But... why didn't you say later?"

There was a collective sigh. "Ratchet, do you really need to ask?" Sunstreaker said, folding his arms over his chest. "Look at what happened just now. The other Autobots didn't even CHECK to see who he was before shooting at him. They thought he was a Decepticon, just because he's a seeker."

Ratchet frowned, but found he didn't have anything to say to that. It was a sad, unfortunate fact; seeker was synonymous with Decepticon in the minds of most.  
"Boys..." The CMO said quietly. "I... I'm sorry..."

"Forget it, Ratchet." Sideswipe huffed. "Nothing you could have done about it."

"I prolly didn't help matters, though, eh?" Asked a voice from the doorway.

They turned, and Ratchet let out a surprised yelp, seeing the green seeker standing behind him.  
"Corkscrew?" Red Alert exclaimed. "They let you out?"

Corkscrew huffed. "O' course not." He crossed his arms over his cockpit. "Y' really think th' Autobots are dumb enough t' LET me out o' a cell?" The instructor chuckled. "Mind, it was fun, breaking out."  
Ratchet glared at the broad shouldered seeker. "And WHAT are you doing up here, in my med bay?" He demanded.  
"Oh, dun get y' engine in a rev', doc." Corkscrew said with a dismissive wave, striding over, unconcerned at the way Ratchet brandished a welder in his direction. "I came t' see my students, is all." The seeker stopped a short distance from the four Autobots and smirked. "The grapevine in this place is nuts."

Red Alert blinked. "So, you heard about me, then?"

"O' course I did." Corkscrew smiled. "An' it's good t' see that it was true. As I understand, y've not been takin' being grounded too well."  
Red Alert grumbled to himself. "Better than most, though."

The comment made Corkscrew laugh. "Well, that's true! Most would have gone nuts and rampaged by now!" He laughed some more.

Ratchet glared at him. "Did you have anything constructive to say, or do I have to send you back down to the brig?" he demanded.  
Corkscrew huffed, but ignored the medic, leaning close to Red Alert. "I'm proud of y', boy. You've done well."  
Red Alert blushed at the praise. "N-no I haven't, Corkscrew."  
"Did y' forget that y' 'aint to disagree w' me?" The larger flier asked, rapping his knuckles on the front of Red Alert's helm gently, ignoring how Ratchet tensed beside him. "Now, listen 'ere, Red Alert. Y' still alive, right? An y've still got y' trine. Y' doin' better than I have, anyway."

Sideswipe blinked at the older seeker. "Corkscrew... did you... lose your trine?"  
"Yeah... so, I've failed in a big way." The seeker frowned and straightened. "And th' upstarts that've been put in command o' the Decepticon fliers have been careful t' remind me o' the fact."

The younger mechs stared at their trainer. "Y-you don't mean Starscream, Skywarp and Thundercracker, do you?" Red Alert wondered. "They... they wouldn't dare... would they?"

"Y' better believe they would!" Corkscrew exclaimed. "The little ingrates rub it in my face every chance they get! So _pleased_ that they outrank me! BAH!"  
Ratchet blinked. "W-wait, you trained those three aftheads too? As well as these ones?"

Corkscrew turned to look at the medic. "Y' can bet y' crosses I did! I trained every seeker that y've likely ever fought! My trine and I... we trained more seekers than there is Autobots on this base!"

"They trained about fifteen trines while we were still sparklings." Sideswipe added casually. "He's not kidding."  
"Impressive." Ratchet admitted, raising his optic ridges slightly.

"Little ingrates..." The green seeker huffed.

There was a long pause before Red Alert spoke up again. "What are you going to do, Corkscrew?" He asked. "Go back?"

The seeker General balked. "Are you batty?" He exclaimed. "If I have a choice I sure as Pit 'aint goin' back there."  
Red Alert looked at him. "Well... it's been millions of years since we last flew. We... could use a teacher again."  
Corkscrew whirled around to stare at the younger seeker, who was staring at him with an honest blue gaze.  
"Y' want me to stay?" He asked.  
"Red Alert, he's a Decepticon! He must share their morals at least partially!" Ratchet exclaimed.  
"Slag that!" Corkscrew growled. "I don't fancy bein' dead, medic. That's it."  
"So, Corkscrew, stay!" Sideswipe agreed. "We'll need you!"

There was a pause while the seeker considered this. It had merit. And clearly, Corkscrew was touched by the way the younger creatures had freely admitted to _needing_ his tutelage. With the pain of losing his trine still a dull ache in his spark, having a purpose... being able to regain his function as an instructor... it seemed to strike home with the seeker.

Slowly, he turned to face Ratchet. "Say, Autobot, y' got anythin' that gets rid o' purple _crap_?"

…

When Ratchet finally let him out of the medical bay, Red Alert was reluctant to leave the presence of his mates. He fell short of actually clinging to them, but hardly took more than a few steps from their sides.  
Although the Autobots wouldn't hurt him now that they knew who he was, the stares and whispered mutterings that they thought he couldn't hear seemed to wear on his nerves, slowly, like a rock Being worn by the sea. Eventually, the twins simply gave up trying to get the Autobots to accept him and stole him away to their quarters, where they sat upon Sideswipe's berth with the smaller frame between them, and sat in silence.

"What am I going to do...?" Red Alert asked after a while. "They hate me now..."  
"They don't hate you, Red." Sunstreaker scolded. "I know what it's like to be hated by people, and trust me, _I_ am hated by them. Well, some of them, anyway."  
"Me too. Everyone has those who they just don't mix with. There will always be an 'Oil' to your 'Water'." Sideswipe added with a smile.  
Red Alert looked at the red twin. "What does that mean?"

"It's a phrase the humans have; 'Oil and water don't mix'. The oil floats on top and won't combine... eeh, it's just some human thing." Sideswipe rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.  
Red Alert giggled a little.

Sunstreaker smiled at the smaller creature between them. "I missed seeing your long wings." He said, reaching a hand over, and trailing his fingertips along its upper edge, lingering on the point on the tip before pulling his hand away. His smile grew as his actions drew a shiver from the seeker.  
Sideswipe caught onto his brother's intention and, with a smirk that mimicked that of the other, he reached his hands over and stroked the base of the wing on his side. Red Alert tensed and let out a small, shuddery gasp, before looking at them with those pale blue hues of his.

"What are you two doing?" He asked in a small voice. They couldn't... couldn't still... after all these years...?  
"What do you think we're doing, Red?" Sideswipe asked, leaning close and capturing the white lips of the Interceptor with his own. At the same time, Sunstreaker slipped his arms around Red Alert's waist and ran his fingers over the seeker's ebony hip plate.  
Red Alert moaned and closed his optics, letting his mates caress him. It was so good to feel them again... the touch of their hands on his wings... He remembered nights like this... nights he never thought he'd get again. They'd make him feel all tingly, he'd stroke their wings in return... and then...

Suddenly the reborn seeker's optics opened, and he pushed them away. He pulled himself off the berth and stumbled a few steps away, his back to them.

The twins frowned, and looked at him. "What's wrong?" Sunstreaker asked, cocking his head to one side. "You don't want us to touch you?"  
No one moved for a long moment, but then Red Alert turned. "It's not fair..." He said, a sad frown on his features.  
The twins blinked at him. "Not fair?"  
Red Alert crossed the short distance between them and hugged them both, an arm around each of their necks. They blinked and returned it, questioning the small seeker through their bond.  
_'What's not fair?'_

"It's not fair that I have my old form back and you don't. It's not fair that you two should stay on the ground when I can fly. I want to fly as a trine again. I miss flying with the two of you at my wings... I miss your crazy flight patterns!" He told them.

The twins smiled lovingly at their partner, who was clinging to them so tightly; as if they would vanish if he were to do any less.

"I miss your wings." He said finally.

….

When a seeker walked into the Rec Hall a few hours later, it drew attention immediately. However, the Autobots got a shock when it was a green seeker that entered, not a red and white one. After they got over that moment where their minds had not yet caught up with the situation, the Autobots were a scramble to try and get weapons pointed at the mech.

Corkscrew, on the other hand, was finding the whole situation vastly amusing. After all, all he had done was enter the room. That was it! Add to that, the red blots on his wings where there had once been purple, and the red and blue Autobot standing behind him that no one had noticed yet, and you had an all around entertaining situation.

Well, HE thought so, anyway.

He put his hands up and slapped a good natured smile onto his face. "Hey now!" He exclaimed, internally chuckling as they all watched him warily, still moving to surround him. "Now what have I done? Y' all need to relax a little."  
"How did you get out of your cell?" Someone shouted.

Corkscrew's smile grew. "Hmm... let's see... I opened the door... then I walked out." He said casually, performing an over exaggerated shrug with this wings, to display his new decals. "Yeah... that sounds about right."  
There was a pause as a few onlookers noticed the red insignia ."What the PIT are you doing wearing our mark, seeker?"  
Corkscrew arched an optic ridge at the question. "Why do YOU wear the mark, y' idiot?" He responded, before looking back at the mech who stood behind him. "I think y' better call a ceasefire. They're not takin' too kindly to y'r mark bein' on wings."

The Autobots watched with optics wide and full of surprise as Optimus Prime entered the room from behind the seeker. "You tact needs work." He said, looking at the green mech who nearly matched his height, who chuckled at his remark.  
"Never has been my best talent."

Prime looked over his men for a moment, not even blinking when Ironhide stomped towards him. "Prime, what's this seeker doin' wearing our crest?" He demanded, throwing his arms into the air.

"Corkscrew has left the Decepticons." Optimus announced to the room. "I expect that you all treat him with _respect._" He gave Ironhide and the Minibots a meaningful look.  
"Respect!" Ironhide exclaimed. "But, Prime! He's a seeker!"

"I am aware of that." Prime said, straightening his back to loom over the Head of Security. "Just as Red Alert is. And I am well aware of everyone's behaviour on that matter!" The commander let his voice rise to address the room. "Have you all forgotten that Red Alert is an Autobot? Why do you treat him with such distain?"

"Everyone knows the Seekers are a Decepticon unit!" CliffJumper protested. "How can you ask us to trust him when we find out that he's one of the Air Force?"

"Prime, can I hit him?"  
"No, Corkscrew."

The green seeker grumbled, but obeyed, so Prime continued. "CliffJumper, have you ever asked a seeker about his origins? Were they truly made by the Decepticons?"  
The minibot spluttered a little and mumbled something, but it was received as a 'no' by Prime's audio receptors.

Corkscrew huffed at the smaller mech. "Yer an idiot. So quick to believe that seeker means 'con. Y'know WHY every seeker you've ever met has worn the purple crest, shortstuff?"  
"Shut yer hole, Decepticon!" Was the retort.  
"It's because, y' twit, Megatron is not above killin' those who don't follow his ideals! Y' MUST have noticed this at SOME point! The reason the seekers who live are cons, is Megatron had all who refused to join destroyed!"  
"Nice and convenient then!" The minibot shouted, coming to the front of the crowd and glaring at the tall seeker. "If that's so, then what's HIS excuse?"  
Corkscrew twitched, and his yellow optics burned at the minibot. There was a distict feeling in the air that the seeker would not feel bad about punting the little upstart across the country for his remarks.  
"Are y' badmouthin' one o' my students, runt?" He growled. "Because I swear to Primus that if y' are, I'm gunna-"  
"Alright, that's enough." Prime said, stepping forward and putting an arm in front of the green seeker to hold him back. "This is not the time, or the place for conversations like this. And, Cliffjumper, I will have you think long and hard about how many times our lives have been saved by Red Alert's actions. I want you to remember that he is an AUTOBOT just like any of us. If you continue to be prejudiced against him for his seeker frame, you WILL be spending time in the brig, is that clear?"

CliffJumper, and a few of the other minibots, at once burst into a round of complaints, but Prime gave them a very firm, very cold look, one that was rarely seen in the usually calm blue optics of the commander, reserved for very special occasions. The minibots fell silent.  
"Am I clear?" Prime asked again, holding the minibots with that look.

There was a long pause from the entire Rec Hall, before a muttered round of "Yes Prime." touched the air.

Optimus Prime nodded firmly, and motioned for Corkscrew to get out of the room, before looking back at the others. "Jazz. My office. Now." He said, before vanishing.

Jazz was one of the few who had not pulled weapons on Corkscrew, and was watching the scene from the side of the room with an expression of confusion and concern. At the Prime's order, he peeled himself off the side wall and headed after him, the room suddenly bursting into confused chatter.

A few moments later, another unarmed mech left the room.

…

Prowl stood back near the door of Prime's office, optics locked on the green seeker sitting opposite the Prime. Jazz was standing beside the desk, a data pad in his hand, which he was reading.

"Nice office." Corkscrew remarked.  
"Thank you." Was Prime's response. "You shouldn't stir the Autobots up, Corkscrew." The commander's voice had trace amounts of amusement in it.  
Corkscrew shrugged. "What can I say? I'm an asshole. Being a 'con for a couple o' millennia'll do that to a mech."  
"I can imagine." Jazz said with a chuckle. "You shit-stirrer you."  
Not exactly familiar with Earth slang, the seeker simply gave the black and white mech a confused look.

"Corkscrew." Prime said, pulling the yellow gaze back to him. "We need you to tell us about the Seekers. If the Autobots are going to accept you and the others, we need to have all the details down."  
Corkscrew crossed his arms over his cockpit. "That's problematic, Prime." He said thoughtfully. "There's a whole lot o' secret stuff in Seeker society, and, even if I am the highest ranked Seeker left, I'm not comfortable revealing everything." He uttered a sigh. "Besides, would y'r lot be willin' to take any information I give at face value? I'll bet that Megatron was hopin' for a reaction like this... so any Seekers who broke free o' him couldn't join the other side."  
"That is a point to consider." Prime agreed. "But I trust your word, Corkscrew, and I trust Red Alert and the Twins."  
"Do the Autobots know about the Twins yet?" The Trainer asked. "They didn't seem to."  
Jazz sighed. "There may be an inkling, but it's not official yet. But the grapevine in here is pretty widespread."  
Corkscrew chuckled. "I noticed that!" He chuckled a little more before turning back to Prime. "I'll tell y' what I can, Prime, but some o' our more... sacred... stuff, I'll have to keep my mouth shut on. Is that enough?"

Prime nodded. "That should be fine. Just tell us what you can."

Corkscrew nodded. "Right. T' start, there are five kinds of seekers. Commons, Hunters, Lancers, Freighters and Interceptors. Each kind has its own set o' specs and talents.

"Commons are the kind y' know best: Starscream, Skywarp and Thundercracker being dandy examples. They feature good speed and manoeuvrability, reasonable armour, and main weapon is arm mounted cannons o' some kind o' another. They make good cannon fodder. Heh heh.

"Hunters, that's what the Twins were, and it's what I am, are bulkier than Commons, and taller. We got good armour, and good speed fer gettin' in close to opponents. We've retractable blades in our forearms fer bipedal mode combat, which y've seen, and stock standard cannons fer alt mode fire. We're the front liner type.

"Lancers are the silent fliers. Normally come with long range rifles and stuff like that fer the head shot, and good speed fer the getaway. They got reasonable armour, but they don't wager on bein' caught all that often. They're SpecOps material.

"Freighters are BIG suckers. Usually with cargo bays n' stuff like that, they got armour thicker then yer head most times. But they're slow as, and only have small weapons on 'em. Supply Run guys.

Then y' got Interceptors."

"I will make an assumption that this is Red Alert's type?" Prime asked.  
"Yeah, Red's an Interceptor Class Seeker. Interceptors are more or less, the fast versions of Hunters. With hardly any armour, those guys _rocket_ through the sky. They got arm mounted blades just like we do, but theirs are LONG. Y' wait till we get Red in combat; y'll see what I mean."

Jazz looked at the Seeker. "Red Alert? In combat? He's not suited for combat!"  
"That's what YOU think."

….

"What, right now?"

"You won't?"  
"It's not that I _won't_ but more I _can't_ right now. I'd have to order supplies and parts, and, never mind I don't have your blueprints, so I'd have to look them up..."  
The twins gave Ratchet a look. "Red can find the blueprints for you." Sunstreaker said. "And, if you didn't have the right stuff to build Seekers, how come Teletran-1 did?"  
Ratchet glared at them. "Teletran-1 has his own stockpile of parts and stuff to use for emergency repairs. He must have had some left over from the landing, because he's not been restocked since we're all online. I am yet to work out HOW you three managed to get Teletran-1 to reconfigure him in the first place however!"  
"It was an accident..." Red Alert said meekly. "So... you really can't do anything, Ratchet?"

Ratchet sighed and shook his head. "If I order what I need right now, I can have you three flying as a trine again in about two weeks."

The twins groaned. "Two weeks..."  
"It's not that long a wait, is it?" Red Alert asked his mates, looking up at them. "After all, how many millions of years have we been ground bound so far?" He smiled up at them. "What's another two weeks?"  
"Two weeks of air dominated by the Decepticons." Sunstreaker said dully.  
Sunstreaker chuckled. "Think of it this way bro. We'll have back up for Jet Judo!"

There was a pause, but then Sunstreaker smirked. "Sounds good." He said, ignoring Ratchet's groan of annoyance. "You'll play with us now, won't you, Red Alert?"

Ratchet's optics widened as a smile plastered itself on Red Alert's face. "Of course." He said gently. "And I wager it has been years since the Decepticon Seekers have faced Hunters and Interceptors." His smile grew. "Won't they be in for a surprise…"


	7. Longest Two Weeks Ever

It was turning out to be the longest two weeks of their lives.

Corkscrew was adamant that Red Alert was not to be in combat until he and his trine mates were able to fly together. Of course, the majority of the Autobots didn't know who Red Alert's trine mates were, even if they had something of a good idea. After all, whom else would talk back to the Autobot Commander, and put themselves in front of Autobot guns to defend the small seeker?

Everyone knew there were only two individuals who had dared.

There was no one brave enough to confront the twins about it, however. They seemed more irritated than usual, and getting in their way was a quick way to get into Ratchet's medical wing on the best of days.

Red Alert knew it was because they were being impatient. And honestly, he was too. He missed their beautiful wings...

But he didn't have the free time to be wistful. Corkscrew saw to that.

The tall green seeker was quick to develop new training routines for the younger flier to get him back in practice. At first, Red Alert hadn't thought it would be too bad, remembering Corkscrew's training from before. But, not only had the Instructor revised his lesson plan and upgraded it a few notches, the red and white Interceptor found that several millennia of being ground bound did terrible damage to one's flying skills.

So much so that he was finding it hard to keep up.

"What's wrong with y' Red?" Corkscrew exclaimed, as the younger flier flopped to the ground in exhaustion. "With th' way th' three o' ya whooped my aftplate in your ground pounding modes I would'a thought you had SOMETHING left in ya!"  
Red Alert hissed and pulled himself up. "I'm not USED to this kind of punishment, Corkscrew!" He returned. "I can't do it that easily!"

The Instructor shook his head. "It's not that y' can't, Red, it's y're just rusty. Y'll get it. This sort of thing would have been easy for y', before."  
"It's hard to fly on wheels and not get hurt."  
"I can imagine!" The instructor smiled. "Let's give that one a rest for a while, and practice combat. Y' have all y'r weapons ready and in good condition, I suppose?"  
"They ARE brand new, Corkscrew."  
"Good. Now, let's practice the assortment of nasty things y' will be doing to Starscream's trine once y' get y'r hands on them."

Red Alert couldn't help but chuckle. Same old Corkscrew.

…

Two sets of blue optics scanned the afternoon sky above, their owners slightly worried.  
"You'd think he'd know better than to run off."  
"Without us, anyway."  
"Yeah..."

_'Stop fussing over me like I'm a sparkling.'_ Red Alert's voice echoed through their bond. _'I'm a grown mech, you know.'  
_Sunstreaker snorted. _'Time spent in stasis does not count. You're still a whelp.'  
'Very funny. You know darn well that I'm only three years younger than you.'  
'Still makes you a whelp!' _Sideswipe cut in. _'We're officially adults as of three months ago. So Ner!'  
'Is that right.' _ Red Alert chuckled. _'Your bodies, perhaps, but your brains are still so childish.'_

_'Are not!'_

The Interceptor's laughter rang through their link like a bell, making the two larger warriors blush. They looked at each other and smiled. That was Red Alert for you.  
_'So, where are you, Red?'  
'In the mountains. The weather is nice and calm up here... I'm just having a casual flight.'  
'You be careful... Corkscrew didn't want the 'cons to see you...' _Sunstreaker warned him.  
_'I'll be careful.'_

Honestly.

Why would the Decepticons come up here? Not only was it deep in Autobot territory, but mountains like these were hard to fly in. This particular area was littered with unusual stone spires, the smallest ones being about the thickness of a tree, the largest ones, getting close to a skyscraper.

But, as is typical, no sooner had he finished this thought, did a set of blips appear on his radar.  
"What the...!" He caught himself and shook his head. Autobot territory. Autobot territory. So, perhaps it was the Aerial Bots being stupid? Yeah, that had to be it. Aerial Bots...

One blip, two blips, three blips... four. That was one short... So... it was either the Aerial Bots without their afraid-of-heights leader, or...

"Ow! Watch it Screamer, I'm flying here!"  
"Don't call me by that name, ingrate!"

Of course.

Red Alert sighed worriedly, and transformed, clutching to one of the rocky spires that made up the area, dampening his signal as much as he could. He wasn't as good as say, Soundwave, but then again, Soundwave was a walking communications console. But, the small seeker could manage.

Carefully, he peeked around the stone spire, his blue optics revealing none other than the trine of Common Seekers, and their mighty leader. Greaaat. He would be blasted into confetti sized bits if he was hit by Megatron's arm mounted fusion cannon. That thing tore through the strongest steels when he syphoned enough energy into it.

And Red Alert was intimately familiar with the amount of armour on his frame.

"So, why are we risking life and limb coming so deep into Autobot Territory, o' mighty Megatron?" Starscream asked, landing beside the silver mech and placing his hands on his hips.  
"We, Starscream," Megatron said, giving the Common a look. "Will establish a monitoring post here."  
"What! But this is in the THICK of Autobot turf! They'll detect it before we can even start building it!"  
"Much as I hate to agree with him, sir, he's right." Thundercracker said, frowning. "We'd be overrun with Autobots before the Post can be completed."  
"Thundercracker, how many flying Autobots are there?" Megatron asked, voice surprisingly, and worryingly, calm.

The blue seeker blinked his optics a few times. "Uh..."  
Skywarp raised his hands to count. "Lessee... the five Aerial Bots... Powerglide... uh... Tracks, on occasion...?"  
Megatron smiled slightly and nodded at Skywarp approvingly, resulting in three identical bewildered looks. "Seven. Yes. Seven, with the ability to fly. Now, how many of _us_ can fly?"  
Thundercracker frowned slightly. "Most, if not all Decepticons can take themselves to the sky if need be."  
"Of course, there's only... lessee... us, coneheads, triple changers... and some of the Combaticons who have any experience in Air Combat." Skywarp continued, receiving another smile and nod from the silver leader.  
"Exactly. So, there is no danger in building here. Never mind that you three, the most skilled of my flyers, nearly killed yourselves, trying to get in here." Megatron's smirk grew, and the three Commons gave him a look.

Red Alert's blue optics widened. So, that was why Megatron had brought the Commons to this place with him... he wanted to see how one could fly around here. He snorted, despite himself. Skilled and talented flyers they may have been, but they were still only Commons. And, if he did so recall, the three of them had something of an inferiority complex, when it came to Seekers like himself and the twins.

Megatron suddenly looked up, frowning darkly.

"What... is something wrong, sir?" Skywarp ventured.  
"Thought I heard something..."  
"I didn't hear anything." Starscream huffed.

Red ducked back behind the pillar of stone he clung to, blue hues wide with fright. Oh scrap, why had he gone and made a racket? Now Megatron was suspicious! Shit! And he couldn't even call the twins for help! They had no way of getting up here!

Megatron 'hmm...'ed thoughtfully for a moment, and raised his fusion cannon, firing at one of the spires. Red Alert yelped as the stone spire to his left was decimated by the purplish blast. He shuddered and clung to his own pillar, hoping for all he was worth that Megatron didn't decide to take a few more spires down.

"You know, this place will be easy to fly in once you destroy all the spires, Megatron." Starscream said flatly, earning him a dark, heated glare.  
"Instead of giving me your wit, Starscream, why don't you get up there? All of you!" He barked, swiping at the three Seekers, who ducked the blow, then took to the air.

Red Alert cursed under his breath as he saw the three Commons shoot directly up, out of the forest of stone spires, and start to circle. They would see him sooner than he could blink if he stayed still... but if he moved, they would see him for sure! Oh, he was a dead mech...

Suddenly he frowned. He was suddenly overcome with this strange determination. He didn't really want to die, but if he was going to be seen anyway, he was going to go down a Seeker! Not clinging to the ground like some... ground-pounder!

Starscream swept his scanners over the area as he flew. He was only picking up his trine mates and Megatron in the area. Megatron must be getting twitchy...

Suddenly, the red and white Common reared back and transformed in surprise, letting out a bewildered shout, as a red, black, and white streak shot past him from below. He stared at it as it banked and took off to one side.  
"It... can't be..." He muttered.  
"What the FRAG was THAT!" Skywarp exclaimed, transforming  
Thundercracker transformed and hovered beside Starscream, his own red orange optics locked onto the shape darting around them.

"What are you glitches waiting for?" Megatron shouted from below. "SHOOT IT!"

But they just stared at it.  
"...Rocket?"

_"...Traitors..."_ Red Alert hissed into an old, long since unused Comm. Frequency... one that all the Seekers in their year had used, back at the Academy. He watched as their optics widened, before shooting high up into the sky, vanishing into a patch of gathering storm clouds.

The Common Seekers looked at each other.  
"They were... killed right...?" Skywarp asked, timidly. "Shockwave killed them... didn't he?"  
Starscream frowned. "He said he did..."  
Thundercracker sighed a little. "Maybe... we're just imagining things..."

Starscream looked down at their ranting commander below. "Maybe..."

…..

WindCharger and Cliffjumper were standing at the front entrance to the Ark when Red Alert returned. He landed shakily and wobbled forwards, ignoring how the two minibots raised their weapons to him.  
"Hold it! Identify yourself!" CliffJumper barked, as the seeker found his land legs.  
"Shut up, CliffJumper." Red Alert droned out, plodding past the two minibots, as only flyers can plod.

The two looked at each other, before jogging to stand in front of him again, weapons raised."Oi! Ain't you listening?"  
"You know who I am, otherwise you would have shot me already. I'm tired. Leave me alone." Red Alert answered, stepping over the shorter Autobots.

CliffJumper made a dissatisfied snort. Red Alert was nowhere near as easy to rile as Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, who most figured were the other two Seekers in disguise.

"Fragging Seeker."

There was a scraping sound from the darkened corridor behind them and the Minibots turned, to see a long, silver blade, inches from their faces. "I'm sure Ratchet would enjoy the company, if you would like me to send you to him." The seeker growled, blue optics cold. "Stop bothering me, CliffJumper."

Both Autobots made a surprised squeak, and jumped back from his blade, CliffJumper bringing his gun up again.  
"One false move and I'll blast you!"

Red Alert just glared at him, before withdrawing his blade with a loud SHINK sound. The cold, blue optics bore at the two for a few moments, before he turned his back to them and vanished into the dark corridor.  
WindCharger grabbed CliffJumper's gun and pointed it down at the floor before the irate mech could fire.  
"Oi!"  
"Just let him be, 'Jumper."  
"What, have you turned into some kind of Seeker Sympathiser?"  
"No, but, he's not in the mood. And, seeing as he's likely as not in a trine with the twins... he would probably maul you."  
"As if that little seeker could scratch my enamel!"  
"Well, fine. Maybe he can't, but he might get Sunny to, and you _know_ full well that_ he_ can."

CliffJumper grumbled. On that, he had to agree.

…..

"They're doing WHAT?"

Red Alert sipped at an energon cube, feeling strangely calm with several pairs of blue optics on him. "They may not, after seeing me there, but, they were discussing setting up an observations post there."  
Jazz was bouncing on the spot in amazement and irritation. "But that's... that's well within our borders! Megatron's got screws loose!"  
Red Alert took another sip. "I overheard his reasons. Although arrogant, they were valid."

Corkscrew looked at the young seeker. "Did they see you?"  
"Yes, I was unable to get away without them seeing me. The Commons, however... were rather unnerved by my being there."

"Well, of course, Red, they think we're dead!" Sunstreaker said, from his place beside his brother. "Probably thought they were seeing ghosts!"

And I'm sure the message I sent them over the old School frequency didn't help matters any... Red Alert thought, hiding a little smile behind his cube.  
"I'll have some surveillance cameras set up in the area, just in case Megatron does decide to go through with it."

Sideswipe stood abruptly, hands balled into fists by his sides. "Why..."  
Red Alert blinked at him.  
"Why didn't you call for back up? Why didn't you call us?"  
"There was no way for you to get to me in time." Was the simple answer. "There is no way up there on foot; the terrain is too harsh."

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!"

Suddenly everyone in the room was staring at the red twin, who was standing before the perfectly bewildered seeker, looking enraged.  
"...Sideswipe..." Jazz muttered, a faint glow from behind his visor indicating that he was rather surprised at this outburst too.

"Why didn't you call us? Megatron and those half-wit Commons could have killed you! You didn't even TELL US THEY WERE THERE!"  
"And exactly what good would that have done?" Red Alert countered, also standing up, facing the taller creature. "I don't have to hide behind your wings, Sidestream! I can take care of myself!"

There was a shocked murmur from the Autobot crowd watching.

"FINE!" Sideswipe suddenly shouted.  
And with that, the red twin turned on his heel and bolted out of the room, leaving a stunned, and confused silence behind.

A pair of ice blue optics turned towards the remaining twin, confused. "Sunny... what just happened?"

Sunstreaker regarded the smaller creature carefully for a moment, before taking his hand, and leading him towards the door. "Come on..."

…

Sideswipe was curled up on his berth, a small, hand held game console in his hands, grumpily staring at the glowing screen. He didn't look up when the door slid open with a hiss, but, he didn't need to.  
"...Sides?"

"I am not talking to you."

Red Alert grimaced. "Sideswipe..."  
Sunstreaker gave his brother a nudge through the bond, being rather insistent that the red mech stop being such an immature little tool and look at their mate.

Said 'immature little tool' sighed, and snapped the game closed, rolling over and sitting up, looking at the two mechs near him. "What."  
Red Alert just looked at him, frowning worriedly.  
"Well, out with it already!" Sideswipe snapped, tightening his hands into fists to try and stop them from shaking, hoping that the other two didn't notice.

A hand gently came to rest on top of his shivering ones. "Sideswipe... I... I really upset you... I'm sorry..."  
"You haven't let your temper get the best of you like that since we were sparklings." Sunstreaker pointed out. "Usually I'm the one who loses it."  
"You can't stand there and tell me that you weren't bothered by the thought of…. Of…." Sideswipe grimaced and looked away, only to look back at his mate when his hand tightened around his.  
"Sideswipe... I'm sorry... really I am..." Red Alert begged forgiveness from the older mech with his round blue optics.

Sideswipe never could hold out long against that look. He pulled the smaller seeker close, and kissed him gently. "...I forgive you." He whispered when they parted. "Just... don't scare us like that again... okay?"  
Red Alert smiled at him, and hugged him, before pulling back and looking at the other twin, who was standing behind them and watching with a gentle smile on his face. Red Alert blushed, seeing the yellow mech smile like that.  
Sunstreaker caught the tint, and cocked his head to one side. "What?"

"Nothin..." Red Alert answered, smiling himself. "Just... I'd nearly forgotten how handsome you were. You hide it under that scowl of yours, Sunny."  
Sunstreaker chuckled. "You hide yours, too, you know."

At that moment, the three of them received a page from the med bay. In Ratchet's unique tone, it said, more or less, for the three of them to get their behinds into the bay, and NOW.

Hardly unable to refuse when Ratchet put it _quite_ like that, the three of them headed down towards the white Nissan's domain.

They were met with a smiling Ratchet, and an excited looking Wheeljack, standing before a collection of boxes, which were a new addition to the usual scene of the medical suite.  
"So..." Ratchet said, grinning. "Which of you is first?"


	8. Figures in the Fog

The entire residency seemed to feel the subtle change in the atmosphere, very early on in the morning, a few days later. It was a strange, yet, knowing feeling; something had changed, and they all could tell. What it was exactly, however...

Four sets of optics shone in the dark of a large room. The violet hues of the largest figure shone up at the other three, their owner seated.  
"So..." He started, voice a low rumble. "How do we wanna do this?"

"It would," Said the shortest. "...be better if we announce ourselves outright."  
"Oh, but where is the fun in that?" One of the figures standing next to him asked. "After all, we are the dramatic type."  
"This is true." Said the one standing to his other side. "And we could use some of the more... creative resources at our disposal to make it truly awe-inspiring."

"Oh?" The ice blue optics of the short figure shuttered slightly. "And who is it we are trying to Awe? The Autobots? Or the Decepticons?"

The others grinned. "Why not both?"

The shorter figure smiled. "How foolish of me. I had forgotten that you didn't know how to do things by halves."  
"Damn straight."

The largest figure stood from his chair. "So. Do you two devil spawn have a plan?"

There was a pause, and the three sets of blue hues before him flickered slightly, and suddenly they all grinned.  
"Oh yeah. But we're gunna need your help, Corkscrew."

…

"Where are they?" Prime asked, looking at his Chief Medical Officer.  
"Dunno." Ratchet answered. "I released them days ago. They said they didn't want us to announce them, though. They wanted to do it."  
"I see." Prime seemed to slump a little. "No doubt they're coming up with something overly dramatic..."

Just then, an alarm went off, and the two Officers ran towards the Command Centre.

"Teletran-1, what's the situation?" Prime asked as he arrived.

"Decepticon activity detected on Off-Shore Oil Rig." Was the answer the computer gave, before providing the coordinates.  
At the rear of the room, a tall green seeker lurked, listening in. "Couldn't have happened better if we invited the Decepticons to play..." he said to himself before making himself scarce. He had work to do.

Just as the Autobots were about to depart for the Oil Rig, something strange happened. The Security doors all throughout the Ark slammed shut.

Ratchet looked at Prime. "Remember what you were saying about overly dramatic?"  
"Sometimes, I really do hate being right." Prime muttered over the cries of distress from his men. "I hope they can handle themselves."

It was then that Teletran-1's screen switched to a different image. And the Autobots quickly found out that it wasn't just Teletran-1. Every screen on the Ark had changed to display this image... An overhead view of the Oil Rig. The Decepticons were easy to see, plundering the rig; The Common Seekers, Megatron, and Soundwave, casually taking what they liked and blowing up what they didn't.

Confused, the Autobots looked on. And even the least observant in their ranks noticed the white fog beginning to hiss off the water...

….

Soundwave was the first to notice the fog. "Megatron." He said, in his usual, monotonic voice.  
The warlord looked over, and the Communications officer pointed at the fog now creeping up towards the platform they were standing on.

Starscream also looked over. "...Smoke?" He whirled on Skywarp. "What did you break?"  
"I didn't do anything!" The purple seeker exclaimed.

Suddenly all three seekers froze.

_t.R.a.I.t.O.r.S..._

Megatron looked at them. "What the..." Why were the heads of his Air Force suddenly looking as if the Unmaker himself had just appeared before them?  
The Commander turned a questioning gaze on the Communications officer. Soundwave looked back.  
"Transmission." Soundwave informed him. "Secure Line. We cannot hear it."

"Saying what?"

_H.o.W.d.A.r.E.y.O.u..._

Skywarp dropped the cube he was holding and scooted closer to his trinemates as the fog began to flood over the platform, towards them.

_b.E.t.R.a.Y.e.D.u.S.t.O.l.I.v.E..._

Thundercracker swiped at the smoke. "What the frag is going on..." He managed, backing up into Starscream.

"They're dead... they have to be dead... Shockwave killed everyone in that complex!" Starscream shouted.

Megatron looked at Soundwave. "Disrupted signal." The telepath said.

Suddenly Skywarp was firing his arm mounted cannons at something in the fog, yelling at the top of his vocaliser. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Skywarp!" Megatron barked. "You'll ignite the Oil you fool!"

The laser fire stopped, and for a moment, Megatron thought that Skywarp had actually listened to him for a change. But, squinting through the thick fog, he could see Skywarp still standing there with his weapon raised. But, it was not doing anything.

_T.r.A.i.T.o.R.s...B.e.T.r.A.y.E.r.S...t.O.t.H.e.S.e.E.k.E.r.N.a.M.e..._

Thundercracker put his hands on the sides of his head. "Go away!"

"But we've only just got here... Thundercracker." This time the voice echoed in the real world, Megatron and Soundwave whipping around to search for the owner of the voice. But the fog was too thick...

Skywarp squeaked in terror as the fog near him seemed to gather, and change shape before his optics, forming an arm, which reached out and grabbed him. "YAAAAAAH! GET OFF!"  
His arm was twisted behind his back, and he was held still. "NOOO! LEMME GO!"

"Skywarp!" Starscream went to move forward, but a pair of hands grabbed him by his wings, making him yelp.

Megatron and Soundwave were watching, confused as all blazes. "Soundwave? What can you tell me?"  
"Something... is there. ...Seekers?"  
"...Apart from ours?"  
"Affirmative."

"What's the matter, Skywarp?" A different voice asked, as a figure formed in the fog, colourless, stepping towards him. "You look like you've seen a Ghost."  
"Y...y...you..."  
"We have returned..."

The arm holding Skywarp seemed to grow, the rest of the body coming into being... but staying colourless like the fog surrounding them.  
"We're back, Warpy."  
Skywarp looked back, optics wide in horror. "S...s...Sunburst..." He whispered. "No fragging way... you were killed..."

The figure holding Starscream by the wings grew into existence the same way, and grinned at the Air Commander. "You know there was... nothing to keep us down..."  
"Sidestream!" Starscream exclaimed, struggling.

"Now the time has come..." Red Alert said, smiling, turning his gaze on Thundercracker, who jumped and squeaked in terror. "These skies belong to us again."

Skywarp couldn't take this anymore. He gunned his underfoot thrusters, and shot into the air, trying to get away from the spectre clinging to him. But the figure went with him, and the two of them burst out of the cloud of fog, into the clear, calm air above.

Skywarp looked back at the figure still holding him, and his optics widened even further as the white seemed to flake off him, revealing the shiny yellow paint underneath. "You know, you're an idiot, Skywarp." He said. "We aren't weak. We never really died."  
"Wh...what...?"

"In fact, you played with us quite often... and you never knew it."  
"What the heck are you talking about?"  
"You were our favourite toys..."  
"S...NO FRAGGING WAY!"

"And now, you understand." He grinned and dug his fingers into Skywarp's left wing joint. "You can't kill the Twins."  
And with that he wrenched back, tearing the Seeker's wing off, and hovering as the unfortunate Decepticon began to plummet towards the sea with a cry of "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"  
"Let the games begin!" Sunstreaker shouted, tossing the wing aside and transforming and shooting down towards the fog below.

"I guess that's our cue." Red Alert said, looking at Sideswipe.  
"I think you're right." The white began to fade off the both of them. "Let them have it, Red!"

"W...what?" Starscream looked between them.

"Can't beat us on land or air." And two blades slid out of Sideswipe's forearms, cutting deep grooves into the Air Commander's wings. He let out a scream of pain. "You really are DUMB."

Megatron and Soundwave, who were watching, knowing full well they should probably do something but having no motivation to do so, blinked in surprise as the fog suddenly dissipated, the air clear.

Starscream was kneeling on the platform losing energon through two gashes in his wings, Thundercracker was curled into a ball, shaking, and Skywarp was about five seconds away from being swiftly acquainted with the ocean.

And it was then that a volley of fire rained down on them from above, as a red and black, red and white, and yellow and black trio of Seekers dived at them, all onboard cannons blazing.

Megatron was all for a fight, but somehow, with his current airborne unit crippled by injury and terror of the purest kind (what weaklings, he thought) he was likely to lose. He was out numbered, and he hated that. Was almost cheating, really.  
So, he took to the air, and headed for the horizon, Soundwave following after. The three Commons took off at speed too, Skywarp warping back into the air and after his commander, Starscream flying off in robot mode, and Thundercracker transforming and shooting off so fast that the air trembled with the sonic boom he created behind him.

The three primary coloured Seekers transformed, and hovered, watching them go for a few moments, before turning and looking up at something above them.  
"How was that, Corkscrew?" Red Alert asked.

The dark green Seeker dropped through the air, a camera in his hands. "That was good. Damn good. You guys made me proud."

The twins high-fived.

"Let's go home, shall we?"


	9. Rush

Most of the Autobot crew spilled out of the Ark as the four fliers approached.

How was one supposed to process this? There had never been, so far as they could remember at least, a Seeker that did not wear the purple crest. Never had an Autobot child been born, that they could recall, had a seeker build. And yet many new Decepticon children had been raised for the skies.

The Autobot Prime had, while the four seekers were returning to base, looked up the very same reports that Jazz had done days before, regarding the School. He had yet to read it in detail; it was an old report, and as such, thanks to Trindlespin's rather infamous reporting style, it was something you really needed to set an hour or two aside for.

But the long and short of what he quickly read, was that the building where they had found Red Alert and the Twins, probably should have housed more…. many more, than the bodies they found.

About two thirds of the estimated building population had been accounted for, leaving another third missing. It became very clear to Optimus that the seekers that made up the rest of the School's population must have been sparklings, or Seekers who had a stronger desire to live than a sense of stubborn pride.

Which was almost ironic, knowing the Decepticon Air Commander like he did.

So, all those new seekers they saw on the battlefield… the young ones that came out long enough to be shot down… were they a stolen generation, sent out with hardly enough skills to survive?  
It would explain how Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp had managed to climb the Decepticon ranks as they had done. They were, so far as he understood, the only trine of Decepticon seekers to have actually been trained in the School, and they were passionate enough about their place in the military to actually want to excel. If Corkscrew was correct, that trio of seekers were nothing special in their builds, so, it was their training that gave them the advantage over the other seekers in the army.

But how did Corkscrew fit into things then? He had been drafted into the Decepticon military when his stubborn pride had given out and his self-preservation had kicked in. But as one of the seekers who had been DOING the training, as a seeker who was a 'Hunter' class, and as such, built differently to the 'Common' class of the Air Force leaders, was it really his lack of enthusiasm for the Decepticon cause that had him outranked by his old students? Or was there something more to it that Prime just wasn't seeing? The olive green seeker had mentioned something about the seekers having something… 'sacred'… that the combat trainer had refused to speak of… did that have a hand in it as well? He would ask, but, he doubted that any of the four seekers they now found themselves with would say a word.

Optimus Prime was standing at the head of his army as the fliers descended.

Corkscrew was flying in the lead, with Red Alert flying in the trainer's slipstream, and the twins guarding the smaller seeker's flanks. It was startling, seeing them flying like that, and realising just how different their builds actually _were_. They had only ever seen Commons up until now, and those more or less looked like they had come off an assembly line and simply painted differently at the end.  
But the Hunters that surrounded the Interceptor before them… you could see the striking size difference between the larger than common Hunters, and the smaller than common Interceptor. You could also very clearly see the differences in their construction; Red Alert had much broader and longer wings, but a more slender body.

And you could hear the differences in their size and their weight, as the four seekers transformed mid-air, and landed heavily on the stone ground before the Prime.

"That went well." Corkscrew said, grinning.  
Prime shook his head. "Whatever am I going to do with you?"  
"Shout us a drink?" The trainer suggested.

Prime chuckled, and turned to the waiting Autobots behind him.

"Autobots!" He declared, voice rising to all. "Today, we have gained an incredible insight, into our history and our opponents." He motioned to the four seekers. "Seekers are no longer a Decepticon exclusive unit."  
"Aren't you lucky, Autobots!" Corkscrew cried. "The sky can now be seared in your colours!"

At the back of the crowd, a small group of brothers frowned darkly.

…

Starscream was pacing. It was something he tended to do when he was actually frightened. He had long since stopped being frightened of the Autobots and of Megatron, so, it was not something that happened a lot to the red and silver white creature. But here he was, hands clasped behind his back, pacing across the common area of the Air Force Dorms. All the airborne Decepticons were housed in this area, and all of them were darned interested in knowing what had Starscream so spooked! Forget that Thundercracker was curled in a ball near the far wall and Skywarp was so nervous he was jumping at every footstep that came within a couple of feet of him.

"Hey, uh, Screamer? You three okay? Megatron seemed kind of shitted about that Oil Rig job…" Thrust pointed out.  
"Yeah, for a small, quickstrike mission he seems… really peeved. What happened, did you blow something up before the Autobots even arrived?" Ramjet added, crossing his arms over his cockpit.

Starscream turned and looked at the other fliers. These Cone-Headed jets….. He wasn't sure if they attended the same School as his own trine… he doubted it; they were an unusual breed, those three. He didn't remember seeing any others like them there… and he would eat his wings if they were a proper trine, anyway.  
The Twins had been Hunters, so had that hard-headed instructor. There were Freighters like that Big Wings guy (crazy bastard mated a Ground-Pounder!) , Lancers like whats-his-name… Darkroom, who had been in some of Starscream's science classes, Commons, like themselves, of course, and…well, Starscream was not overly sure he had ever met an Interceptor. But some weird, pointy headed losers like this lot? He was not overly sure.

"…Where were you three brought up?" Starscream asked, voice dry.

The Cone Heads blinked their red optics and looked at each other in surprise. "Wut?"  
"What, do I have to get a black board and write it in big, easy to read letters? Where. Were. You. Brought. Up?"

They looked at each other once again, before returning their confused red gaze to the Air Commander.

"Iacon." Dirge responded. "That's where we met, at least."  
"At the age of….?" Starscream whirled a hand around in the air before him as a visual prompt to continue.  
Dirge looked at his wingmates. "We must have just come of age, what do you think?"  
"Yeah, just gotten our adult designations, from memory." Ramjet agreed.  
Thrust gave Starscream a look. "How exactly is this relevant to the Oil Rig Job?"

Starscream sighed. "You would not even begin to understand should I bother trying to explain it to you." He told them, making a dismissive gesture with his hand.

"You calling us stupid, Screamer?"  
"I wasn't." Starscream hissed. "But I _can_, if it will stop you asking brainless questions."

The three erupted into indignant uproar, not exactly understanding how the Air Commander was insulting them, but pretty damn sure that Starscream was insulting them somehow, and being an ass about it, as usual. The red and silver white mech only shook his head at them.  
"You aren't even Seekers." He said as he headed for the door. "I don't know why I'm even talking to you."

Their insults followed Starscream out the door and halfway down the hall. What did he care what they said to him. He had bigger problems.

Much bigger.

How had they survived? Shockwave was no less of a merciless killer then than he was now, so the thought of someone surviving his attack… those someones being children, of all things, was laughable! He supposed it came down to the fact that the twins had been as stubborn as all blazes, and refused to go down. Or….maybe they had just…

Starscream faltered in his step. He didn't claim to know much about what went on in the Seekers Temple that had been hidden away below the School. He knew they forged trines there, which was a big deal, really.

After his trine joined the Decepticons, Starscream had seen many seekers come, and more often, go. He wasn't dumb; he knew that about a hundred seeker sparklings had been kidnapped from the School on the day of the attack, even though many others had been slaughtered. He wagered that when most of the older seekers were choosing to die rather than join, taking the sparklings became the next best thing.

And he had seen almost every single one of those sparklings grow, be assigned two partners, and be sent off. Very rarely did they come back alive.  
They didn't have the training. Didn't have the experience.

And they weren't real trines.

They were fliers in groups of three, but that wasn't a _real_ trine. There was something about the way that the Temple had done it that made the seekers… _powerful._

The twins had been in the same year as Starscream and his trine had been. That pair had been stubborn, reckless, and hot headed and for most of the time they were there, didn't have a third member.  
And they had been held back, again, and again, and again, because each new seeker they sent in the twins' direction they chased away. They hadn't wanted to associate with anyone other than each other.

They had already gone through three or four possible partners before the small mech called Rocket was assigned to fly with the twins. Starscream didn't really remember, because at the time, he was too worried about his own, rather imminent graduation, but he thought Rocket had stuck with the twins for….at least a while.

And when Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp had been taken down to the Temple, two days before the attack, what those boneheads were doing was the last thing on his mind. He honestly hadn't expected there to be anything more to the Forging, but there had been.

Oh the _feeling_ that had brought them!

It had been a little strange at first, feeling Skywarp and Thundercracker with his very spark in that first moment they were Forged. But it had been a comfortable feeling. It was so wonderful, feeling his wingmates there.

The feeling, or rather the _rush_ that feeling gave faded somewhat over the next few days, as they flew and worked as a real trine, trying to decide what they wanted to do with themselves. The feeling itself never went away, and it was this link between them that let them decide quickly to side with the angry purple mech that had just broken down their door and demanded that they join the Decepticons or _die._

The few other adult seekers that had agreed to Shockwave's terms were either broken or Un-Forged. The trainer, Corkscrew, was a perfect example. His two trinemates had died in that attack, before Shockwave had even gotten to the green seeker, in a different part of the School all together. Which was probably why he had ended up giving in. There was a _power_ in that link, that much could not be denied. And with his trinemates gone, Corkscrew had lost that power.

But Rocket and the twins had not been Forged when the attack came, had they? The Elders had a very strict habit of only one Trine Forging per day, and there hadn't been any one planned for the day that their world came crashing down.

Then again…

The Elders generally lived down there. A horrid way to spend your life, Starscream had thought. Locked underground? He would rather die than suffer that. But, suffer it they did, in order to keep the secrets, and 'Work the Forge', had been the phrase.

And, knowing about the brash nature of Sidestream and Sunburst, the Air Commander would not have put barging in on the Elders above them. Presuming they had passed all their subjects, and presuming the Elders had not already performed a Forging that day, Starscream couldn't actually think of why they would refuse the twins and Rocket their Right of Forging, even if it was unscheduled.

And…. If the timing had been right….. those two upstarts and the runt would have had that rush… that _power_ running through them….. right when Shockwave made it to the bottom of the complex. And perhaps…. It had been power enough…. To keep their sparks alive.

….

Red Alert and the Twins were not sure how they were going to be treated, now that their true natures had been revealed. Sure, the minibots would be pissed, but they had never liked seekers, OR the twins before, so it was more like rolling all that they didn't like into the one ball.

But, although their play had been short, they didn't stay to socialise and find out. They were exhausted.

The many flight systems of a Hunter or Interceptor Seeker were not exactly light-weight systems, and required a lot more energy and conscious thought than those of a Lamborghini. After all, you could park and zone out if you were a Lamborghini. In the air, you couldn't just stop somewhere to gather your thoughts… not if you didn't want to plummet to the ground below. Gravity, sometimes, was not your friend, and not all seekers were able to land in all terrains.

So, after being introduced so grandly to their comrades, returning the camera and the holographic equipment they had 'borrowed' to Mirage, and grabbing an Energon cube, the trine headed to the Twins' quarters.

A short debate about sleeping arrangements saw them further from the rest they were seeking, as right now, the last thing they wanted to do was be away from one another. Eventually, they decided to disassemble the bunk bed that the twins had been using, and lay the berths side by side, granting them a single, much larger bed.

And with that accomplished, Red Alert stretched out in the middle of the berth on his front, a twin on each side.

"…I'm exhausted…" He complained lightly, resting his head on his arms, optics flittering closed.  
Sideswipe draped an arm over his mate's back and snuggled close. "Me too. It was a hoot though, scaring the absolute shit out of those three Common fraggers."  
The Interceptor smiled, and leant over to kiss the red flier beside him. "You know…. Sometimes I wonder, what would have happened had I chosen to fly with Skywarp and Thundercracker instead of you two." He said, thoughtfully, resting his chin on his arms. "Whether they would have convinced me to join Shockwave that day…. Or not…."

Sunstreaker's fingers came over to gently rub Red Alert's helm. "Who's to say." He said. "But I _can_ say that you probably wouldn't have had the same thing with them, as you do with us."  
"With the way they behave around each other, I don't think they do." Sideswipe agreed. "Unless they only show any kind of affection when behind locked doors."

"We aren't exactly walking displays of affection either, Sideswipe." Red Alert pointed out.  
"No, but we were trying to hide what we were entirely." Was the response.  
"Yeh…" Sunstreaker agreed. "We don't have to hide any more… so, why should we hide what we have with each other?"

Red Alert giggled. "You know, I always thought as you two as more private mechs." He said, sitting up and smiling at them. "No one else has any business knowing what we do and don't do."  
Sunstreaker wrapped his arms around Red Alert's waist. "Speaking as a Security Bot, Red?"  
Red Alert felt himself shiver at the touch of his mate around him. Something he hadn't felt…. For so very…. Very long…..

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker both noticed the shiver, and they grinned, sneakily.  
He blinked at them. "….What?"  
Sideswipe's response was to reach over, and with gentle fingers, stroke the underside of Red's wing.

The result was instantaneous.

Red Alert's bone white face darkened in a vivid blush, and a shuddery gasp escaped from between his lips.  
Tiredness forgotten, Sideswipe continued to trail his fingers along their mate's wings, and Sunstreaker let his hands slip from around the smaller mech's waist, dipping down, over his crotchplate.  
"G…..Guys….."  
"You know what…?" Sunstreaker whispered. "I have…. A brilliant idea."  
"Funny you should say that, Sunny." Sideswipe responded. "Because I just had a brilliant idea too."

…

**Whispy: It has been a long time coming, I know! So sorry everyone, for the wait! (And no, I'm not writing any details on what they're about to get up to, so, you can fill in the blanks yourselves xD)**

**Oh, but this update doesn't stop with a new chapter! Since I started writing this story, FanFiction . net has changed what it does and does not accept in story documents, like ! and ? beside one another for example, and as such, the previous chapters of this story don't flow like they did when I first wrote them. So, in honour of me getting back into writing, I have gone back and edited the previous eight chapters of Earn Our Wings slightly, so they all read better :D **

**Also, there is a poll up on my Deviantart page, regarding my Fan Fiction account.  
All over the internet- except here –I am known as Whispatchet. I want to know if you guys think I should change my pen name to Whispatchet here, or not. So, (due to FF . net not liking links) head over to my profile page, and click the button that will take you to my deviant art page. Vote in the poll! Let me know what you think!**

**Thanks for being so patient with me~  
I'm gunna go and write some more Leading the Blind and Knights In Autobot Armour now :D**


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